FG Announces Final Evacuation of Nigerians from South Africa

• The Federal Government says its final evacuation flight from South Africa will arrive in Lagos on Wednesday.

The Federal Government has announced that its final evacuation flight from South Africa will arrive in Lagos on Wednesday, bringing home 315 Nigerians who chose to return following the recent wave of xenophobic violence.

According to a statement issued on Tuesday by the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kimiebi Ebienfa, the Air Peace flight is scheduled to depart Johannesburg at 1:30 a.m. and land at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, by 6:30 a.m.

The flight marks the fifth evacuation operation organised by the Federal Government and the seventh batch of Nigerians repatriated from South Africa since the evacuation exercise began.

More than 1,000 Nigerians reportedly registered their interest in returning home after the attacks.

The previous evacuation flight, which arrived on July 9, brought back 282 Nigerians, raising the total number of returnees to 1,141 before Wednesday’s final flight.

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, had earlier urged all Nigerians willing to leave South Africa to take advantage of the government’s evacuation programme.

Her appeal followed reports that two more Nigerians were killed during the latest wave of xenophobic violence, bringing the official death toll to four, although some returnees have claimed the actual number of victims may be higher.

The minister assured Nigerians that the Federal Government remained committed to ensuring that every citizen who requested evacuation would be safely returned home.