The Federal Government has announced plans to evacuate another 271 Nigerians from South Africa as part of ongoing efforts to protect citizens ahead of planned anti-immigrant protests expected to begin on June 30.
The latest evacuation flight, operated by Air Peace, departed Nigeria on Monday and is scheduled to return to the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, on Tuesday morning with Nigerians who voluntarily opted to return home.
Confirming the operation, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kimiebi Ebienfa, said the evacuation is part of the government’s proactive response to growing security concerns surrounding the planned demonstrations in South Africa.
“Nigeria will resume the evacuation of our nationals from South Africa today,” Ebienfa said.
According to him, the Air Peace aircraft departed Nigeria at 3:00 p.m. on Monday and was expected to arrive in South Africa at about 9:00 p.m. local time. The return flight is scheduled to leave South Africa at midnight and land in Lagos on Tuesday morning.
Ebienfa disclosed that 271 Nigerians are expected on the latest evacuation flight, adding to the number of citizens already repatriated under the voluntary evacuation programme approved by President Bola Tinubu earlier this month.
The initiative was introduced to assist Nigerians willing to leave South Africa amid fears that the planned anti-immigrant protests could escalate into violence targeting foreign nationals.
Earlier in June, the Federal Government announced that five Air Peace evacuation flights had been approved after more than 500 Nigerians completed screening for repatriation.
Before this latest operation, 328 Nigerians had already returned home in two batches. The first evacuation flight, which arrived on June 11, brought back 262 returnees, while another 66 Nigerians were repatriated on June 25.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the evacuation exercise is being coordinated in partnership with Air Peace and relevant government agencies to ensure all registered Nigerians wishing to return home are safely evacuated.
