Xenophobia: Nigerians to start arriving from South Africa on Thursday

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced that Nigerians being repatriated from South Africa will arrive in Lagos on Thursday.

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The ministry’s spokesperson, Kimiebi Ebienfa, in a statement on Tuesday, disclosed that the Nigerians will depart from Oliver Thambo International Airport in Johannesburg on Wednesday night and arrive at Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos at 5 a.m. on Thursday.

“The evacuation operation will be undertaken by Air Peace Airlines. The Federal Government of Nigeria has fully funded the evacuation exercise; consequently, all affected Nigerians will be repatriated at no cost to them,” Mr Ebienfa said.

PREMIUM TIMES reports that the Nigerian government is set to repatriate around 1,000 Nigerians from South Africa. The state has one of the highest populations of evacuees, alongside Ghana, which also disclosed that it evacuated 1,000 Ghanaians from the country last week.

Xenophobic tension and violence in Pretoria have spurred at least five African countries to carry out repatriation exercises for their citizens residing in the country. Several countries, including Nigeria, Ghana, Lesotho, Kenya, and Zimbabwe, at different times also issued security advisories warning citizens to be cautious or advising those at home to suspend nonessential travel to any South African city.

Nigeria initially scheduled the evacuation of its citizens for Monday but postponed it, citing “unforeseen issues.”

READ ALSO: Xenophobia: Nigeria reschedules airlifting of citizens from South Africa

This paper reported that the federal government has said it may be considering retaliatory measures against South Africa due to its apathetic response to the violence perpetrated by its citizens towards Nigerians and other African foreigners.

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The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, said the South African government was “not doing enough” to address the decades-long xenophobia.

The minister declared that Nigeria was “unhappy” with South Africa.

“This is a situation that we are considering, but it is up to our legislature,” she said. “It is a decision that has to be taken at the highest level of government, but it’s not off the table.”