FG Engages S/Africa On Safety Of Nigerians Awaiting Evacuation

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…To Seek Compensation For Abandoned Nigerian Businesses

LAGOS – The Federal Government on Tuesday assured Nigerian citizens residing in South Africa of their continued safety, promising sustained high-level diplo­matic engagements with South African authorities to protect their interests.

The spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kimiebi Ebienfa, gave the assurance in a statement in Abuja to mark the arrival of the second batch of Nigerian evacuees from Johannesburg.

The evacuation coincides with the June 30 deadline imposed by South Af­rican vigilantes for undocumented for­eigners to exit the country.

According to Ebienfa, the second evacuation flight, operated by Air Peace, arrived at the Murtala Muhammed In­ternational Airport, Lagos, at 10:48a.m. on Tuesday with 269 returnees.

This brings the total number of re­cent evacuees to 335, following the June 24 repatriation of 66 Nigerians via South African Airways, facilitated by a private citizen.

The statement noted that the 269 returnees were escorted by officials from the Nigerian Mis­sion in South Africa and received in Lagos by a federal delegation led by the Director of the African Affairs Department, Haruna Ali- Gombe.

“Ali-Gombe conveyed the heartfelt greetings and assur­ances of President Bola Tinubu to the returning nationals, re­affirming the Federal Govern­ment’s steadfast commitment to ensuring the safety of Nigerian nationals living outside the coun­try,’’ Ebienfa said.

The spokesperson added that the voluntary repatriation remains on course, with more flights expected in the coming days to evacuate other successful­ly screened and cleared Nigerian nationals.

FG To Seek Compensation For Abandoned Nigerian Businesses In South Africa

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s Acting High Commissioner to South Africa, Alexander Ajayi, says the Federal Government will seek compensation for business­es and properties abandoned by Nigerians returning from South Africa under its voluntary evac­uation programme.

Ajayi disclosed this on Tues­day during an appearance on Channels Television’s The Morn­ing Brief, as another batch of Ni­gerians arrived in Lagos aboard an evacuation flight organised by the Federal Government.

He said those being repatri­ated voluntarily opted to return home ahead of planned anti-im­migrant protests, adding that the government had already begun documenting businesses and properties left behind by return­ees.

“In terms of the businesses, just three days ago, myself and the South African Deputy Minis­ter of Finance were together, and we were discussing this. I took up the discussion with her, and we have agreed that we are going to ask our people who are returning to begin to document what they are leaving behind, and that was the message yesterday before this set that is due to land in Lagos.

“I have asked them before they left yesterday to document very accurately those things they were leaving behind in terms of businesses, in terms of even cars, movable and immovable proper­ties. We can now take it up with the South African government. That is the next step we are going to take,” he said.

Ajayi said the evacuation ex­ercise would not end with bring­ing Nigerians home, stressing that the Federal Government intended to pursue compensa­tion for those who had invested in South Africa.

“So, this repatriation will not end with just taking people to Nigeria. We are going to system­atically follow up on the informa­tion given to us, and I told them to be very accurate with what they are going to give because we are going to work with the South African government to get to the exact locations of all these businesses, shops and properties and present them to the South African government for possible compensation because we will not allow the labour people have suffered to build over the years to just go down the drain or be taken over by people,” Ajayi said.

The envoy also rejected claims that most Nigerians living in South Africa were undocument­ed, insisting that the majority entered the country legally and only became affected by delays in the renewal of immigration documents.

“In the last three or four years, there has been a deluge of applications at the South Af­rican Home Office which were not attended to due to systemic issues. So, because of this, many, not only Nigerian nationals, were caught in this web of delay, so you cannot rightly claim that these were undocumented be­cause most of them came to the country legally in terms of how somebody should migrate.

“So, it is on the basis of now wanting to renew their papers and get them when one expires that they were caught up in the unnecessary delays. So, when people try to say they were undoc­umented, I quite disagree with that because some of them, based on experience, have had their papers lag behind at the Home Office for years,” Ajayi said.