The Federal Government will pay for the repatriation of Nigerians from South Africa, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Saturday. Kimiebi Ebienfa, the ministry's spokesperson, told the News Agency of Nigeria that evacuees would not bear any costs, and that the government would deploy aircraft to bring them home.
The screening of Nigerians who registered for evacuation was set to end on Saturday, Ebienfa said. The process started on June 4 as a joint exercise between the Nigerian High Commission in Pretoria, South Africa's Department of International Relations and Cooperation, and South African police and immigration authorities.
"At the end of the screening, we will have a definite number of persons cleared for evacuation. Thereafter, we will finalise arrangements for the deployment of aircraft to bring them home," Ebienfa said in a telephone interview.
The evacuation programme comes after weeks of anti-immigrant violence in South Africa, where foreign nationals, including Nigerians, have faced attacks and harassment. The Federal Government launched the voluntary repatriation scheme to address safety concerns and give Nigerians the option to leave. The ministry did not specify how many people had registered for evacuation or when the flights would begin.
