No more evacuation from South Africa, says Nigerian Government

The Federal Government has said the issue of further evacuation of Nigerians from South Africa does not arise again.

Nigeria had last month evacuated no fewer than 500 Nigerians from South Africa following xenophobic attacks on them and other Africans.

But on Thursday, Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the violence that gave rise to the evacuation had abated. It added that Nigerians in South Africa were, however, free to return home.

However, about 600 Nigerians have registered for evacuation with the Nigerian High Commission in South Africa and are said to be eager to return home.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman, Ferdinand Nwonye, told Punch correspondent in Abuja on Thursday, that normalcy had been restored in South Africa with Nigeria signing about 32 agreements, including a 10-year visa policy with Pretoria to advance bilateral relations during the state visit by President Muhammadu Buhari.

He said, “People can come back, but normalcy has been restored. What the Air Peace Airline did was on humanitarian grounds. The issue of evacuation does not arise anymore because there is no situation warranting evacuation. Yes, there is none, all of us know that. There are some Nigerians that are not doing well and if we help them to return, that is on humanitarian grounds.”

– Punch