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Xenophobia: Evacuation of Nigerians from South Africa To Continue Tuesday

September 16, 2019

The airline had last Wednesday commenced the exercise with the evacuation of 178 Nigerians in the first batch.

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The management of Air Peace has confirmed that it would continue with the evacuation of Nigerians from South Africa following latest xenophobic attacks on Nigerians and other African migrants in that country.

The airline had last Wednesday commenced the exercise with the evacuation of 178 Nigerians in the first batch.

The second batch of the exercise was delayed due to the inability of the Nigerian High Commission to process travel documents for Nigerians willing to return home.

The airline said the flight is expected to arrive Lagos from Oliver Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg, by 7:00 pm Tuesday.

This was confirmed by Chairman of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, who said that the flight would leave Nigeria after midnight on Tuesday to arrive South Africa in the morning.

Onyema also disclosed that out of over 600 Nigerians willing to return home, 360 of them had been cleared for the evacuation, adding that the airline would airlift 320 in the second batch, which is the maximum capacity of the aircraft.

There are also indications that despite the diplomatic efforts started by South Africa’s President, Cyril Ramaphosa, to reach out to other African countries including Nigeria, many Nigerians still want to leave the country because of uncertainty and lack of assurance that the hostility may not be stopped by the South African Government.

The Nigerian High Commission in South Africa said that it has been collaborating with immigration officials in the former apartheid nation to clear all Nigerians willing to return home.