Another group of Nigerians has returned from South Africa under the Federal Government’s voluntary evacuation programme as concerns persist over growing anti-immigration tensions in the country.
An Air Peace aircraft carrying 269 Nigerians arrived at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos on Tuesday, June 30, shortly before 11 a.m. The flight departed Johannesburg at about 5 a.m. local time.
The returnees were received by officials of the National Emergency Management Agency, the Nigeria Immigration Service and the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission.
The latest evacuation forms part of the Federal Government’s efforts to assist Nigerians who voluntarily opted to return home following increasing hostility towards foreign nationals in South Africa.
The programme comes as vigilante groups and other organisations in South Africa enforced a June 30 deadline calling for undocumented migrants to leave the country.
READ ALSO: Xenophobia: NANS Threatens Shutdown Of South African Businesses In Nigeria
Earlier this month, President Bola Tinubu approved the evacuation initiative to provide safe transportation for Nigerians willing to return home.
The Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs had previously announced that five Air Peace evacuation flights were approved after more than 500 Nigerians registered and completed screening for repatriation.
It explained that the arrangement was intended to ensure that every Nigerian who volunteered to return would be evacuated safely.
Before Tuesday’s flight, 328 Nigerians had already arrived home in two separate batches. The first group of 262 landed in Lagos on June 11, while another 66 returnees arrived on June 25.
The evacuation exercise is being coordinated by the Federal Government in collaboration with Air Peace and relevant agencies, follows renewed concerns over the safety of Nigerians living in South Africa, where recurring xenophobic attacks and anti-immigration protests have repeatedly strained diplomatic relations between both countries.