Nigerians evacuated from Sudan surpass 3,100 as government and IOM efforts continue amid the ongoing conflict

At least 3,108 Nigerians have been evacuated or assisted to return home from Sudan since civil war broke out in the North African nation in April 2023, according to verified records from the Federal Government and the International Organisation for Migration.

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The figure highlights one of Nigeria’s largest emergency repatriation operations in recent years, involving a combination of government-led evacuations and humanitarian return programmes coordinated by international agencies.

Data obtained from the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and the International Organization for Migration showed that the initial response centred on an emergency evacuation exercise before transitioning into a phased humanitarian return programme.

The Nigerians Evacuated From Sudan operation began shortly after violence erupted in April 2023, forcing thousands of foreign nationals to flee conflict-affected areas.

The Federal Government evacuated no fewer than 2,518 Nigerians through 15 special flights conducted between April and May 2023.

Four of the flights departed from Aswan in Egypt, while 11 departed from Port Sudan after stranded Nigerians, many of them students, travelled through dangerous conflict zones to reach designated evacuation centres.

The final batch of evacuees arrived at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja on May 13, 2023.

At the peak of the operation, former Foreign Affairs Minister Geoffrey Onyeama disclosed that the Federal Government spent at least $1.2m on the evacuation exercise.

The expenditure covered the procurement of 40 buses used to transport Nigerians to the Egyptian border, as well as various administrative and exit charges.

Chairperson of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, had confirmed at the time that no Nigerian casualty was recorded during the evacuation process.

However, approximately 160 women and children whose nationality could not immediately be verified were temporarily retained for profiling by officials of the Nigerian Embassy in Khartoum.

As the conflict intensified in the months that followed, many Nigerians who missed the initial evacuation or chose to remain in Sudan found themselves trapped by expanding violence across regions including Darfur and Kordofan.

In response, the International Organization for Migration launched a Voluntary Humanitarian Return programme to assist vulnerable migrants and foreign nationals seeking to leave the country.

The organisation reported that four chartered flights have so far returned 590 Nigerians from Sudan.

Of that figure, 425 Nigerians were evacuated in three separate tranches during 2025, while an additional 165 returned in 2026.

Most beneficiaries were students whose education had been disrupted by the war, elderly persons and individuals who lost their livelihoods as economic activity deteriorated across large parts of Sudan.

The IOM said returnees received a range of post-arrival support services, including medical care, counselling, mental health and psychosocial assistance, transportation support and reintegration programmes.

Some participants also benefited from entrepreneurship and business development training designed to help them rebuild their lives after returning home.

Despite the successful return of thousands of Nigerians, authorities acknowledged that the exact number of citizens still residing in Sudan remains unknown.

Senior Communications Assistant at the International Organization for Migration, Elijah Elaigwu, said obtaining a precise figure remained difficult because of security challenges and limited access to certain parts of the country.

“Unfortunately, at this time, there is no precise or verified figure for the number of Nigerians still in Sudan who may have declined assistance or remain unreached,” he said.

The uncertainty reflects the continuing humanitarian challenges posed by the conflict, which has entered its third year without a clear resolution.

The Sudan war began on April 15, 2023, following a power struggle between Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, widely known as Hemedti.

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What started as fighting in Khartoum rapidly escalated into a nationwide conflict that has devastated infrastructure, disrupted healthcare and education systems, displaced millions of people and triggered one of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises.