Relief has come the way of Nigerians living in South Africa as the second batch of Nigerians repatriated from South Africa have arrived at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos.
The 66 returnees touched down at about 8:50pm on Wednesday, as part of the federal government’s ongoing evacuation exercise approved by President Bola Tinubu, following the latest xenophobic violence in South Africa.
On June 11, the first batch of 258 evacuees arrived in Nigeria aboard a chartered Air Peace flight.
Head of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) in Lagos, Dipo Onabowale, stated that the latest evacuation was carried out by Kunle Soname, chairman and chief executive officer of ValueJet, with officials of the Nigerian High Commission in South Africa accompanying the returnees.
Onabowale, who spoke on behalf of NiDCOM chairman, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, thanked Tinubu for approving the evacuation.
NiDCOM also announced support packages for the returnees, with indigenes of Imo state receiving N1 million each from governor of the state, Hope Uzodimma.
The commission added that MTN Nigeria provided free SIM cards, data worth N50,000 and credited N100,000 to each returnee’s bank account.
Bolaji Idowu, founder of Harvesters International Christian Centre, also donated N100,000 to each of the evacuees.
The evacuees expressed appreciation to Tinubu for approving the exercise and facilitating their return.
They also thanked Soname for supporting the evacuation, Temitope Ajayi, acting Nigerian high commissioner to South Africa; and Dabiri-Erewa, NiDCOM chairman; alongside the donors.
