Nigeria Repatriates 258 Nigerians From South Africa After Xenophobic Attacks, First Air Peace Flight Arrives Lagos

Nigeria began repatriating Nigerians from South Africa after weeks of xenophobic attacks, with the first batch of 258 evacuees arriving in Lagos on Wednesday at Murtala Muhammed International Airport (Cargo Terminal) aboard a specially arranged Air Peace flight.

The Premium Times Nigeria account said the Air Peace flight was the first of five approved by President Bola Tinubu to bring home more than 1,000 Nigerians who registered for voluntary evacuation, and it described documentation and profiling before returnees are reunited with their families and enrolled in reintegration programmes.

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The AP account said a total of 262 passengers and three officials were on the flight to Lagos, and it reported that Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs had earlier said over 1,000 Nigerians registered for voluntary return.

South African authorities, according to AP, said the returnees were found to be in the country illegally, contradicting Nigerian officials who said they were fleeing xenophobic attacks.

At the airport, the Acting High Commissioner of Nigeria to South Africa, Alexander Temitope Ajayi, said, “The people you see here today are our fellow Nigerians who have decided to come back home to escape the irresponsible violence that has been taking place in South Africa.”

The BBC described a flight carrying 268 Nigerians arriving in Lagos after leaving Johannesburg on Thursday morning, and it quoted returnee Justin saying, “I'm leaving because of the conditions they've given us here. They say we must leave on or before 30th June.”

In the same BBC report, hairdresser and mother-of-three Chinwe Osuala said, “I was personally attacked in my business premises. But after everything I called the police. Police helped me.”

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South Africa’s Home Affairs Department, as summarized by France 24, said it had processed 586 Nigerian nationals for repatriation and declared them “undesirable persons” prohibited from re-entering South Africa for a period of five years.

France 24 also reported that South African authorities said mobs had marched through parts of the “rainbow nation” demanding that people with no residency papers leave by June 30, while foreign nationals reported being intimidated and beaten by groups going door to door.

In Nigeria, the police spokesperson Aliyu Jiwa warned against retaliation, posting on X, “However, this is a time for calm and restraint,” and he said violence “will only create additional crises.”

Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the evacuation exercise would continue with more flights expected to arrive in the country in the coming days, while the ICIR reported that returnees were undergoing documentation, profiling and necessary medical checks.

The ICIR said the returnees would be provided with temporary accommodation before reuniting them with their families, and it quoted Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sola Enikanolaiye saying, “No Nigerian should live in fear simply because of their nationality.”

Premium Times Nigeria reported that President Tinubu directed as far back as April that all Nigerians willing to return home should be evacuated, and it described a hotline communication and a crisis monitoring unit tracking events across South Africa’s nine regions.

The BBC added that Abike Dabiri-Erewa, head of Nigeria's Diaspora Commission, told the BBC that the emergency management agency would transport returnees to destinations across Nigeria's 36 states, and it said returnees received financial assistance of more than 100,000 naira ($73; £55) along with mobile phone credit.

Across the reports, the stakes were framed around protection and legal status, with France 24 citing South Africa’s claim that repatriated Nigerians were in the country “illegally” and with Nigeria’s police warning that any attempt to target South African citizens or diplomatic facilities in Nigeria “will be treated as a criminal act.”