The Federal Government and the first batch of 268 Nigerians repatriated from South Africa have vehemently rejected claims by Pretoria that all the returnees were undocumented.
Pushing back against statements by South African immigration officials who tagged the evacuees as illegal migrants and slammed a five-year travel ban on them, Nigeria’s acting High Commissioner to Pretoria, Ambassador Temitope Ajayi, labeled the narrative false and misleading.
He blamed the situation on severe systemic failures within South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs, noting that many legitimate applicants have been left stranded for years awaiting resident and work permit extensions.
The evacuees, arriving at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos aboard an Air Peace flight, recounted harrowing experiences of xenophobic violence, systemic discrimination, and constant extortion by South African law enforcement agencies.
Some of the returnees also directed their grievances toward the Nigerian Mission in Pretoria, accusing officials of bureaucratic bottlenecks and corrupt passport racketeering that compounded their documentation woes.
Returnees warned that hostilities against foreign nationals in South Africa are intensifying ahead of mid-June, with some reporting armed intimidation, business closures, and the systemic denial of study permits for Nigerian youth.
The massive evacuation exercise was initiated by President Bola Tinubu following an outbreak of xenophobic violence in April.
Despite immense diplomatic pressure from world leaders and South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, to halt the operation due to “bad optics” for Pretoria, President Tinubu reportedly insisted on the evacuation, declaring that any attack on Nigerians abroad was an attack on his administration.
The flight represents the first of five planned airlifts sponsored by the Federal Government in collaboration with Air Peace, with subsequent operations scheduled throughout June to ensure the safe return of hundreds more citizens.
To prevent future diplomatic and security crises, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Sola Enikanolaiye, announced that the Federal Government will immediately activate the Nigeria-South Africa Binational Commission and a newly established Early Warning Mechanism.
While emphasizing Nigeria’s commitment to constructive dialogue and diplomacy, the Minister assured that proactive frameworks are being put in place to respond faster to threats against Nigerians.
He further relayed President Tinubu’s commitment to implementing domestic reforms aimed at making Nigeria economically viable so that citizens would only feel the need to travel abroad for leisure.
Meanwhile, a comprehensive, multi-sectoral reintegration program has been launched to support the returnees as they resettle.
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Dr. Bernard Doro, stated that immediate profiling is underway to address the psychological, medical, and livelihood needs of the evacuees.
To cushion their immediate return, the Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa, revealed that the government has mobilized significant private sector and state support.
This includes a ₦1 million cash pledge per returnee from Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma, alongside ₦100,000 cash transfers, mobile phones, and airtime starter packs provided by MTN Nigeria.
