By Favour Ulebor
The Federal Government has said the screening of Nigerians in South Africa who registered for voluntary evacuation following renewed xenophobic attacks will end today.
Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Kimiebi Ebienfa, disclosed this to journalists on Saturday.
According to him, the exercise commenced on Thursday and is being conducted jointly by the Nigerian High Commission in Pretoria, South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation, the South African Police, and immigration authorities.
Ebienfa said the screening would determine the exact number of Nigerians cleared for evacuation.
He added that after the exercise, the government would finalise arrangements for the deployment of aircraft to bring the affected citizens back to Nigeria.
He said, “The screening exercise of Nigerians in South Africa that have registered to be evacuated will end today.
“At the end of the screening, we will have a definite figure that has been cleared for evacuation. Thereafter, government will finalise the details about deployment of aircraft to bring them home,” he stated.
This comes after the Federal Government announced plans to evacuate willing Nigerians from South Africa last month following anti-immigrant protests in Pretoria and Johannesburg.
The move was aimed at providing safe passage for Nigerians who no longer felt secure amid rising tensions targeting foreign nationals.
According to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, who disclosed in a recent post on her X account that 130 Nigerians initially registered for the programme, the figure was expected to increase as more citizens indicated interest in returning home.
Reports also note that the number of Nigerians seeking voluntary repatriation has risen to more than 1,000, up from the 130 initially recorded when the programme was announced in May.
