Nigeria’s Acting High Commissioner to South Africa, Temitope Ajayi, has said no fewer than 500 Nigerians are still awaiting evacuation from South Africa.
Ajayi disclosed this on Friday, following the repatriation of 861 stranded Nigerians within three weeks.
“We have about 500 remaining, which we shall repatriate next week,” he told Saturday Punch.
The first batch of 258 returnees arrived in Lagos aboard an Air Peace aircraft on June 11, while ValueJet evacuated another 66 Nigerians on June 24.
Another 271 persons were evacuated on June 30 through Air Peace, while the fourth batch of 266 Nigerians arrived in Lagos on Friday.
Speaking while receiving the fourth batch at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, the Director of Migration Affairs at the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons, Catherine Udida, said the returnees would receive psychosocial support and reintegration assistance.
“The Federal Government has made adequate arrangements for them through different agencies and ministries. They all have individual roles and responsibilities to play,” Udida said.
She said the National Emergency Management Agency would provide buses to take the returnees to their states or locations close to their homes.
“For instance, NEMA is providing the cars and buses to take the returnees to their respective state or close to their state, and the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and IDPs is the mandate agency on return. So we are providing durable solutions.
“Which means we will provide livelihood support, skills training and, of course, psychosocial and mental health counselling because of the trauma they have been through,” she added.
Udida said the commission had profiled more than 1,000 Nigerians for the intervention.
“Currently, we have profiled more than 1,000 persons, and those persons have been adequately catered for,” she stated.
She added that Nigeria had sustained diplomatic engagements with South Africa to ensure the safety of Nigerians still in the country.
“There have been bilateral engagements between the governments of Nigeria and South Africa. So far, so good, there has been continuous engagement to ensure the safety of all Nigerians in South Africa,” she said.
One of the returnees, 21-year-old Fola Kester, said he had lived in South Africa since he was four but was forced to return because he could not obtain legal documentation.
“I have been in South Africa since I was four. I’m now 21. I haven’t been able to get my papers. I had an initial application, but it was lost in the system. And if you applied, you can’t reapply again.
“My dad tried to reach out to Home Affairs, but no response. I was in university. I was able to finish the first year, but I could not register for subsequent years because of my papers,” he said.
Kester said he returned after exhausting available options.
“After trying and exhausting my options of lawyers and emailing Home Affairs, I had to leave because I don’t have a life in South Africa. I’m not a normal person there because I had no access to anything. It’s been a bunch of silence on the part of Home Affairs,” he added.
Another returnee, identified simply as Obi, alleged that Nigerians faced hostility in South Africa.
“I will urge Nigerians not to have anything to do with South Africa. They don’t like us. Once you mention you are a Nigerian, they immediately develop hatred. This isn’t the first time. It is political because whenever elections are around the corner, they do this,” he alleged.
Obi, however, thanked the Nigerian government for the evacuation.
“I am happy with what the government has done. South Africans see all black foreign nationals in South Africa as Nigerians. It is a natural hatred. In the 90s, we were chased out of school to pay for apartheid. I was surprised when I got there,” he said.
