The Air Peace aircraft which was scheduled to take off at 9:00am local time was delayed due to the fact that clearance procedures by immigration are usually very slow.
Air Peace on Wednesday commenced the evacuation of at least 84 Nigerians from South Africa.
The Nigerians had been cleared by the immigration, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed to journalists on Wednesday.
The ministry said that out of 313 Nigerians confirmed for the first batch for evacuation today, 84 of them had so far been cleared and are expected to arrive Nigeria at 2:00pm local time.
It said, “The Air Peace aircraft which was scheduled to take off at 9:00am local time was delayed due to the fact that clearance procedures by immigration are usually very slow.
“Out of the 313 confirmed for the first batch for evacuation today, only 84 are cleared so far.
“The more the aircraft waits for the passengers, the higher the amount it will pay for parking.”
Many of those voluntarily returning to Nigeria following fresh xenophobic attacks in South Africa, arrived the Nigerian Embassy as early as 4:00am to join buses ferrying them to the airport.
According to the ministry, 640 Nigerians have indicated their desire to return from South Africa and had registered to do so, adding that the second batch would depart Johannesburg for Nigeria on Friday.