FG’s fourth South Africa evacuation flight arrives in Lagos, final batch due next week

The Federal Government has received another group of Nigerians evacuated from South Africa, as the fourth repatriation flight landed at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.

The Air Peace flight touched down on Thursday night with 282 passengers, increasing the number of citizens brought back under the evacuation programme to 1,141 since the first flight departed on June 11.

Authorities had earlier disclosed that more than 1,000 Nigerians registered to participate in the voluntary return exercise.

Before the latest flight, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, encouraged Nigerians who wished to return to make use of the government’s evacuation arrangement.

Her appeal came after reports confirmed the deaths of two more Nigerians in South Africa, raising the official number of Nigerian fatalities linked to the xenophobic attacks to four. However, some returnees have claimed the actual figure may be higher.

Although some South African civil society groups had informally urged undocumented migrants to leave the country by June 30, the repatriation exercise has continued beyond that date.

See Also

Nigeria considers flight restrictions from Uganda, DRC over Ebola spread

The minister assured that every Nigerian who registered for the programme would be given the opportunity to return home.

Kimiebi Ebienfa, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the fifth and final evacuation flight is expected to arrive in Nigeria next week, bringing the exercise to a close.