A final evacuation flight from South Africa touched down in Lagos on Wednesday morning, bringing home the last group of Nigerians who registered for the Federal Government’s repatriation programme.
The Air Peace aircraft carrying 315 returnees departed Oliver Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg at 1:30am and landed at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport at about 6:30am, according to a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Kimiebi Imomotimi Ebienfa.
Ebienfa described the flight as the fifth and final evacuation flight from South Africa organised for Nigerians who indicated a wish to return home following weeks of xenophobic attacks and security threats in the country.
The last and fifth evacuation flight from South Africa, operated by Air Peace, was expected to depart Johannesburg with 315 returnees, Ebienfa said in the statement issued on Tuesday, adding that the aircraft would arrive in Lagos at approximately 6:30am.
The programme was triggered by a wave of hostility that followed a self imposed deadline of 30 June set by the March and March movement, a citizen led anti immigration group that had demanded undocumented foreign nationals leave South Africa. The unrest strained diplomatic relations between Abuja and Pretoria for weeks, with Nigerian officials summoning South African diplomats and pressing the South African government for firmer protection of foreign nationals still in the country.
With Wednesday’s arrival, the Federal Government has evacuated a total of 1,456 Nigerians from South Africa since the exercise began on 11 June. The figure includes 1,141 people moved through earlier government coordinated flights, the 315 passengers on the final evacuation flight from South Africa, 66 Nigerians evacuated through a private arrangement, and 39 more transported on a separate Air Peace operation.
Before Wednesday’s flight, the government had carried out four earlier evacuation phases, airlifting 262 Nigerians on 11 June, 271 on 30 June, 268 on 3 July and 284 on 9 July, alongside a smaller batch of 40 returnees flown in on a chartered aircraft.
Rev. Frank Onyekwelu, president of the Nigerian Citizens Association in South Africa, confirmed that affected Nigerians had been notified ahead of the final evacuation flight from South Africa and directed to assemble at the Nigerian High Commission in Johannesburg before departure. The names on the list had been invited to gather at the High Commission for the departure process, he said.
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bianca Odumegwu Ojukwu, has repeatedly urged Nigerians still in South Africa to take advantage of the evacuation exercise, particularly after reports emerged that two more Nigerians had died in the unrest, raising the official death toll linked to the violence to four. Some returnees who arrived on earlier flights have suggested the true number of fatalities could be higher, though the government has not issued a revised figure.
Officials from Nigeria Immigration Service, the National Emergency Management Agency and other government agencies were on standby at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport to receive the returnees arriving on the evacuation flight from South Africa, with reception teams deployed across the terminal to manage the process and ease congestion around the arrivals wing.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reaffirmed its commitment to protecting Nigerians wherever they reside and thanked Air Peace, along with other agencies and stakeholders, for supporting the repatriation exercise from its first flight to the final evacuation flight from South Africa. The evacuation flight from South Africa programme was concluded successfully after all registered Nigerians who requested assistance were transported back home.
Officials said the closure of the airlift does not end government engagement with South Africa, with the Ministry pledging continued diplomatic pressure over the safety of Nigerians who choose to remain.
