NEWS
Hundreds Of Nigerians Remain Stranded In Sudan
It has been more than two months since a conflict erupted in Sudan, and some Nigerians are still awaiting assistance from the national government to repatriate them from the troubled country.
Henry Akwari, a Nigerian professional footballer in Sudan, has expressed the uncertainty surrounding the situation of numerous Nigerians who are still trapped in Sudan.
Private airlines collaborated with the foreign ministry to evacuate over 3,000 Nigerians during the initial weeks of Sudan’s internal strife.
Many believed that all individuals requiring assistance had been successfully relocated from the war-ravaged nation. However, it has now come to light that a number of Nigerians are presently marooned in the country.
“I have been playing professional football in Sudan since 2016,” Akwari told The Punch on Sunday.
“I’m from Imo State, born and brought up in Lagos State. Though I have played for different teams within the past six years, I currently play for Alwadi Nyala.
“Before the war started, there was no indication and there was no announcement that there was going to be a war. It was a normal day, and as a footballer, I had to travel with my team because we had a match and the league was going on. I left the capital of Sudan, Khartoum, just a day before the war started.
“Due to the breakout of war, we couldn’t play the match we went for; we couldn’t travel, and we were stuck. The first evacuation started in Khartoum, and when this was happening, those of us outside Khartoum couldn’t come inside. That was why I was unable to come to Khartoum for the evacuation.”
The 30-year-old footballer said that he took a risk to travel from his residence in Agbara to Port Sudan because he heard that the government was evacuating Nigerians there.
Akwari said that he was not the only footballer or professional of Nigerian citizenship stuck in Port Sudan. They all missed the evacuation deadline because they had travelled from distant locations and avoided getting caught up in the violence from Khartoum.
“From the camp here and the other camps, I believe we are roughly 350. Let me not say we are more than this. Three hundred and fifty Nigerians are here; yes,” Akwari told The Punch.
“For the men, we are in the same camp, while the women are in another camp. We are all camped in an abandoned school here in Port Sudan.
“When I got here, even the embassy knew me well enough. I have tried talking to them to know what exactly the problem is, but the ambassador keeps assuring us that we will leave. Now, we know we will leave, but when exactly are we leaving? They have refused to tell us the day we are leaving. It is either they tell us that they don’t have clearance or tell us that there’s no plane or that the government has not sent funds.
“We don’t know why they kept giving us different answers. When we had a meeting with them (the embassy), they told us we would leave but they didn’t know if it would be in a month’s time or after a month. Meanwhile, we have stayed here for over a month and they are still giving us words that indicate that they don’t know when we would leave. We have lost hope. I won’t lie to you. We are just trying to be strong.”
Akwari spoke of the psychological toll the helpless situation had forced on the stranded evacuees.
He painted a painful picture of people resorting to criminality to survive within the camps.
“People are not working, and they have started to steal from one another. It is just like a fight to survive the situation. This is terrible. We also have information that ladies in their camps have started getting involved in prostitution just to ensure that they feed themselves. A lot of things are happening but people just want to survive,” Akwari said.
“Also, Port Sudan is so expensive; a bottle of water here goes for 1,000 Sudanese pounds. The item was normally sold for 300 Sudanese pounds. How do we eat and survive in this situation?
“At the moment, in Port Sudan, there’s no war. The security is tight but outside Port Sudan, there’s a terrible war going on out there and we can only pray that it doesn’t get here. We have been receiving many security alerts that they have been trying to break into Port Sudan. Last week, they caught a container filled with ammunition belonging to the Rapid Support Forces in Port Sudan here. We heard they brought them (ammunition) in through the sea and all of that.
“The only thing you do is not going anywhere. It is the only way we know that our lives can be protected, because there are soldiers everywhere. Some of us ran out of the war zone without our passports and walking around in the war zone without that is at your own risk. Anything can happen at any time, and it is not safe. The only thing we do is that we pray more and try to stay together all the time. That’s what we do.
“The ambassador had a lengthy talk (a few days ago) and his last word was that the embassy was with us, the Nigerian Government was with us and we would go home, but he did not tell us when we would go home. That was the last conversation.”
In the past 10 years, Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL) has spent over $10 billion to support Nigerian companies and local capacities.
CNL’s, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer and the General Manager of Corporate Affairs Shoga Odushelu, disclosed this at the 2026 Nigeria Union of Journalists FCT Council Media Capacity Building for Energy Correspondents in Abuja.
The theme of the capacity building is “Strengthening Energy Journalism Through Knowledge, Data Accuracy and Artificial Intelligence.”
Odushelu, represented at the workshop by Victor Anyegbulike, said, “Right now, every year, we spend about $1 billion for local content. And in the past 10 years, we have spent over $10 billion supporting companies and supporting local capacities”
According to him, most of the prominent players with excellent capacity in the oil and gas industry are the offshoots of Chevron projects.
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He also recalled that, regarding Nigerian content, Chevron started local community content in 1999, before Nigerian content in 2010.
According to him, the firm, which has reduced gas flaring by 98 per cent, is ready to exit flaring completely very soon for supply to the Nigerian market.
“Where we get all those gases and make sure we put it into the Nigerian market. And we know that in doing that, we are removing all the gas that originally was flared, right?
“And we have reduced our gas flaring by 98%. The idea is for us to get to 100% very, very soon,” he said.
Besides, he revealed that as the company transitions to the Host Community Development Trust (HCDT), it is also building capacity through the HCDTs of each of the communities it operates in.
Chevron payments to its host communities, said Odushelu, have exceeded $140 million in terms of community development projects in the Niger Delta.
“Right now, over $140 million has been paid to these communities for our community development projects in the Niger Delta region,” he said.
Odushelu revealed that Chevron, in partnership with Pan-Atlantic University, was the first company to start training journalists in Lagos in 2014.
According to her, 140 journalists benefited from the programme.
Currently, he said the firm is training journalists all over Nigeria in their various fields, including the Nigeria Association of Energy Correspondents this year.
On the essence of the training, he described journalism as a very noble profession.
Chevron, he said, takes the profession very seriously because of journalists’ functions in society.
In her remarks, the NUJ FCT Council Chairman, Grace Ike, said data accuracy is the compass of journalism.
She added that in an era of abundant numbers and competing claims, credible data separates sound reporting from speculation.
Continuing, she stressed that “We must demand primary sources, verify figures, and develop the habits and tools to cross-check official statistics, company disclosures and independent datasets.
“Where numbers are unclear, we must say so and show our readers why clarity matters.
“Accurate data reporting helps hold corporations and governments accountable, protects communities from misinformation, and builds public confidence in our profession.
“Artificial intelligence is our new tool, not a replacement for our judgement, but a force multiplier when used with discernment.
“AI can rapidly analyse large datasets, identify trends, transcribe interviews, and surface documents.”
The Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA) has announced that it will commence full enforcement of its cashless fare payment policy across regulated public transport services in Lagos State from August 1, 2026.
The agency said commuters who continue to pay bus fares with cash, as well as transport operators who accept such payments, may face legal sanctions under existing state regulations.
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Speaking during an X Space discussion on Wednesday with transport stakeholders titled “Lagos Cashless Transit: What Aug. 1 Enforcement Means to You,” LAMATA’s Head of Legal, Idris Akinola, explained that passengers using regulated public transport are required by law to pay fares through the approved electronic payment platform, the Cowry Card.
According to Akinola, both commuters and transport operators who engage in unauthorised cash transactions could be prosecuted, stressing that the enforcement drive is aimed at improving transparency, accountability and compliance within Lagos’ public transport system.
He urged transport companies to ensure their drivers and conductors strictly comply with the policy, conduct internal monitoring and cooperate with LAMATA officials during enforcement operations.
Akinola warned that violations of the relevant laws could attract severe penalties, including prison terms of up to seven years upon conviction.
Also speaking, the Managing Director of Teejay Motors, Adekunle Tajudeen, said the company had already trained its drivers and boarding officers ahead of the enforcement, directing them not to accept cash payments from passengers.
He revealed that some drivers had previously been arrested and jailed for collecting cash fares, noting that passengers also contribute to violations by insisting on paying with cash instead of using the approved electronic payment system.
To ensure uninterrupted services, Tajudeen said the company had expanded its fleet and recruited additional drivers to replace any workers found to be non-compliant.
Transport and urban mobility expert Adepoju Fawokon said previous enforcement efforts targeted mainly drivers and failed to achieve the desired results.
He argued that both passengers and transport operators involved in cash transactions should be held accountable to reduce revenue leakages and strengthen the sustainability of Lagos’ regulated transport network.
Meanwhile, the Managing Director of Touch and Pay Technologies, Olamide Afolabi, announced measures to address complaints about incorrect Cowry Card top-ups.
He said new digital solutions, including the Carry Hub platform, a mobile application and self-service top-up kiosks located at bus and rail terminals, would enable commuters to check their balances, review transactions and top up their cards more conveniently.
Afolabi added that a postpaid and single-card payment system is expected to be rolled out before the end of the year, allowing commuters to complete online top-ups that become available instantly without first transferring funds to a physical card.
The abductors of a Kebbi State High Court judge, Justice Faruku Bunza, have demanded N200 million as ransom for his release following his abduction from his residence in Bunza Local Government Area.
The ransom demand was confirmed on Tuesday by the Kebbi State Commissioner of Police, Umar Hadejia, and the judge’s brother, Yusuf Bunza.
Justice Bunza was kidnapped in the early hours of Sunday from his home along Zogirma Road in Bunza, prompting a swift security response.
SEE MORE: Bandits Kidnap Kebbi High Court Judge in Midnight Home Invasion
Speaking on the development, Commissioner Hadejia said police had launched an intensive operation to rescue the judge unharmed and apprehend those behind the abduction.
According to him, intelligence gathered during the operation revealed that the kidnappers were demanding N200 million for the judge’s freedom.
He disclosed that a combined team of security operatives had been deployed to comb suspected escape routes, while strategic checkpoints had been mounted across key locations believed to have been used by the abductors.
The police commissioner expressed confidence that the ongoing operation would lead to the safe rescue of Justice Bunza and the arrest of the kidnappers.
Hadejia further revealed that the family informed the police that the abductors had contacted a registrar of the High Court in Abuja to begin negotiations over the ransom demand.
Confirming the development, the judge’s brother, Yusuf Bunza, said the kidnappers had also reached out to him.
“Yes, they contacted me; they asked for N200 million from the family. We don’t know what to do now but we believe the authorities and security operatives are doing their duty to secure his release,” he said.
The abduction has heightened concerns over the security of judicial officers and the persistent threat of kidnapping across parts of the country, as security agencies continue efforts to secure the judge’s safe release.
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