Xenophobia: 84 Nigerians Return From South Africa

Following the approval of President Muhammadu Buhari to evacuate 640 Nigerians from South Africa, the first batch of 84 Nigerians evacuated from South Africa are expected to arrive Nigeria at 2 pm local time via the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos in the company of officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in an update, revealed to newsmen in Abuja that 313 Nigerians were confirmed as the first batch, but only 84 of them would arrive in the country on Wednesday because they were the ones cleared to embark on the flight to Nigeria.

Recall that the ministry had noted that 640 Nigerians indicated to return to the country following the recent Xenophobic attack on Nigerians in South Africa.

The ministry added that the second batch of evacuees would depart Johannesburg for Nigeria on Friday.

“The Air peace aircraft which was scheduled to take off at 9. a.m local time was delayed due to the fact that checking in and clearance procedures by immigration are very very slow.”

“There are complaints of system failure and out of the 313 confirmed for the first batch of evacuation today, only 84 are cleared so far.”

“The more the Aircraft waits for the passengers, the higher the amount the Aircraft will pay for Parking,” the ministry stated.