Egyptian authorities, on Monday, finally agreed to allow Nigerians fleeing the war in neighbouring Sudan pass through the country.
Following the closure of Sudanese airspace, the Federal Government had made arrangement for buses to convey Nigerians to Egypt from where they were to take flights back home.
But Nigerians have been stranded at the Egyptian border due to the refusal of the country’s authorities to allow free passage inspite of the repeated pleas made to them.
Chairperson of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Hon Abike Dabiri-Erewa, said on Monday evening and Egypt had agreed to open its border after President Muhammadu Buhari intervened.
Dabiri-Erewa said the Nigerian president reached out to President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, his Egyptian counterpart, and struck an agreement.
The NIDCOM boss, however, said Egypt agreed to open the border under stringent conditions.
“The border has just been opened, ( with stringent conditions ) after President Buhari’s intervention with the Egyptian President. So, the processing of evacuees by the Nigerian Embassy in Egypt will begin,” she said in a statement.
Nigerians, who departed Khartoum, the Sudanese capital, on Wednesday had been held at the border between Sudan and Egypt over visa-related issues.
Over one thousand Nigerian students were held for days at the Egyptian border.