According to the minister, the evacuation flight, operated by Air Peace and funded by the Federal Government, departed Johannesburg's O.R. Tambo International Airport with 262 Nigerian nationals and three government officials onboard.
The Federal Government of Nigeria has commenced the evacuation of its citizens from South Africa following renewed xenophobic attacks and growing hostility against African migrants in the country, with the first batch of 262 Nigerians expected to arrive in Lagos on Thursday.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, disclosed this in a statement on Thursday, saying the evacuation was ordered by President Bola Tinubu under the administration's citizen diplomacy policy to protect Nigerians who now consider their lives unsafe in South Africa.
According to the minister, the evacuation flight, operated by Air Peace and funded by the Federal Government, departed Johannesburg's O.R. Tambo International Airport with 262 Nigerian nationals and three government officials onboard.
She said the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Sola Enikanolaiye, would receive the returnees at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos on behalf of the Federal Government.
