Scores of Nigerians that returned from South Africa yesterday narrated scenes of intimidation, looting, harassment and fear for their lives.
The Nation said the first set of 258 evacuees from a pool of more than 1,100 Nigerians who registered to return home after recent xenophobic crimes have been received by the federal government.
The returnees were on the first of five evacuation flights scheduled by the federal government in conjunction with Air Peace.
Moments after 10.40 a.m., women, children, youths and senior passengers disembarked from the aircraft in tears, prayers and exclamations of relief at having arrived safely in Nigeria.
Officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, humanitarian agencies, immigration authorities and security personnel spoke to the returnees under a receiving canopy at the airport as documentation, profiling and medical screening began.
Many of the people returning wore masks.
One widow, who would not provide her name, characterised her 20 years in South Africa as “a pure waste of my youthful years”.
She said many Nigerians experienced extortion, prejudice and a system of renewing immigration documents that was rife with misuse and corruption.
“South Africans see other Africans as enemies,” she remarked. “Before Nigerians run off to greener pastures, they should think twice.”
Ajibola James Ogunleye who said he had resided in South Africa for over 15 years also talked angrily about his experience.
I will not advise any Nigerian to go to such country. The South Africans don’t want other Africans to succeed.
“There is no work for someone who thinks of making it there. I’m glad to be back home alive. It seems like the years I spent there were wasted.”
Stanley Osawaru, another returnee, who said he spent over 16 years in South Africa, alleged that attacks against Nigerians and other African migrants had become more regular.
He said: “They attack you wherever you go. “They see Nigerians on the streets and collect their valuables. They plunder our shops and ruin our trades without reason.”
Govt promises support, reintegration
Sola Enikanolaiye, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, who met the returnees on behalf of the Federal Government, said the evacuation was a demonstration of President Bola Tinubu’s commitment to the welfare, safety and dignity of Nigerians overseas.
“The Federal Government of Nigeria will not fold its arms and allow its citizens to be attacked and harassed wherever they are in the world,” he added.
Enikanolaiye said Nigeria was speaking with South African officials “at the highest diplomatic levels” to seek protection for Nigerian nationals and to address the factors behind the attacks.
He congratulated the Nigerian High Commission in Pretoria for arranging the evacuation and advised Nigerians remained in South Africa to be law-abiding, cautious and in touch with the mission.
The operation was carried out alongside the Ministries of Humanitarian Affairs, Aviation and Health, the Nigeria Immigration Service and security services, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
It said interim accommodation, medical care and other services would be offered until the evacuees are reunited with their family. More planes are planned in the following days.
Uzodimma, MTN share cash, airtime
The Director-General of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa, claimed the returnees left South Africa of their own volition following the xenophobic attacks.
They were undergoing SIM-card registration, immigration checks and other screening procedures, she noted.
MTN would give N50,000 worth of airtime to each returnee, while the federal government will give N100,000 in addition to offers from the state governments and non-governmental organisations, Dabiri-Erewa said.
She said the governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodimma, had committed to give N1 million each to Imo indigenes among the evacuees and called to state governments to help with their reintegration.
Minister of Humanitarian Affairs & Poverty Reduction “The return of the evacuees was a result of ongoing intervention by several agencies,” said Dr. Bernard Doro.
He told the returnees that “the healing process had started” and offered more help after documentation and profiling were done.
South Africa rejects ‘evacuation’ story
But the South African authorities rejected the description of the operation as an evacuation because of xenophobic violence.
In a statement yesterday, South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs said 586 Nigerian nationals had been processed for repatriation after being determined to be living in South Africa unlawfully.
The administration said the first repatriation flight arrived in Nigeria on June 11 with 268 passengers and that all processed had been issued Emergency Travel Documents by the Nigerian High Commission to ease their departure.
They were designated “undesirable persons” under South Africa’s Immigration Act and prohibited from returning to the country for five years, said spokesperson and Deputy Director-General for Operations Thulani Mavuso.
Another flight was scheduled for June 15 for the remainder of the group’s 586 members.
The department praised the Nigerian High Commission for its cooperation in the documentation process and advised foreign nationals to always keep their visas and legal immigration status valid.
But Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber claimed the government was “irrevocably committed” to implementing immigration laws through what he termed as “orderly and lawful deportations and repatriations”, which he said had increased by 46 per cent over the past two years.
He asked the public to stay calm and not take the law into their own hands or resort to violence.
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