XENOPHOBIA: 271 MORE NIGERIANS EVACUATED FROM SOUTH AFRICA
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The federal government has shared that another 271 Nigerians impacted by the recent xenophobic protests in South Africa will arrive in Lagos today, which is Friday, as the evacuation efforts continue.
In a statement released on Thursday by its spokesperson, Kimiebi Ebienfa, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said this latest group will help the government get closer to finishing the evacuation of Nigerians who signed up to come back home.
The ministry mentioned that the third evacuation flight is expected to land at Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos around 5:30 a.m.
on Friday, July 3, 2026, with 271 people returning.
They also said that so far, a total of 593 Nigerians have already been brought back from South Africa in earlier evacuations.
It explained that the first batch of 258 evacuees arrived in Lagos on June 11 aboard a special Air Peace flight and were received by the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Amb Sola Enikanolaiye, on behalf of the Federal Government before being handed over to relevant ministries, departments and agencies for documentation and profiling.
The ministry said logistical challenges delayed the second evacuation flight, resulting in some Nigerians being temporarily accommodated at the Nigerian High Commission in Pretoria, where they were cared for by the mission.
It added that a Nigerian philanthropist voluntarily paid the airfare for 66 of the stranded nationals, who returned to Lagos on June 24, while another 269 evacuees arrived on June 30 through the second government-arranged evacuation flight.
The ministry said three additional evacuation flights would be operated in the coming days to bring home about 700 more Nigerians who had voluntarily registered, been screened and cleared for evacuation.
Addressing allegations that officials of the Nigerian Mission demanded money from intending evacuees, the ministry dismissed the claims.
It stated, “For the avoidance of doubt, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs wishes to place on record that all the special evacuation flights are fully paid for by the Federal Government and at no cost to the returnees.
“This clarification is necessitated by insinuations and false allegations that some staff of the Nigerian Mission were requesting money before enlisting our nationals for the evacuation flights. That is totally false, fake news, and should be discarded.”
“It also reflects the Government’s determination to ensure that Nigerians affected by crises abroad receive the necessary support, dignity, and care.
“The lives of Nigerians living abroad matter, and we are trying our best as a Ministry to give them a sense of belonging.”
South Africa has in recent days witnessed a renewed wave of anti-illegal immigration protests and sporadic unrest, beginning around June 30, 2026, in parts of major urban centres and migrant-heavy communities.
The demonstrations have been driven largely by groups demanding stricter enforcement of immigration laws, accusing undocumented foreign nationals of worsening unemployment, crime and pressure on public services.
While the protests initially began as organised street demonstrations and community marches, they reportedly escalated in some areas into violent confrontations and looting incidents targeting foreign-owned shops and residences.
Authorities in South Africa have maintained that the protests are aimed at illegal migration rather than specific nationalities, but in practice, foreign nationals from several African countries have again been caught up in the tensions, prompting concern from affected governments and renewed evacuation efforts by diplomatic missions.
The current unrest has also revived longstanding concerns about xenophobic violence in South Africa, which has surfaced intermittently over the past decade during periods of economic strain and heightened political rhetoric around migration control.
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