Nigeria’s planned repatriation of citizens stranded in South Africa has been postponed until Wednesday due to what the Federal Government described as unforeseen logistical challenges.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs disclosed the development in a brief statement issued on Monday by its spokesperson, Kimiebi Ebienfa. According to him, the evacuation flight, which was originally scheduled for Monday, has been rescheduled.
“The repatriation flight earlier scheduled for Monday has been moved to Wednesday due to unforeseen logistical considerations,” Ebienfa said.
However, the ministry did not provide further details regarding the nature of the logistical issues that necessitated the postponement.
It also remains unclear whether the returnees will arrive in Abuja or Lagos, as officials have yet to disclose the destination airport or the number of Nigerians expected in the first batch of evacuees.
Reports indicate that the evacuation operation will be conducted by Air Peace, although authorities have not confirmed the flight schedule for Wednesday.
The repatriation exercise follows a screening and documentation process involving more than 1,000 Nigerians residing in South Africa. The exercise commenced last Thursday and was expected to end on Saturday as part of arrangements for their return to Nigeria amid renewed concerns over xenophobic attacks in the host country.
Earlier, Nigeria’s High Commission in Pretoria announced that it had secured waivers from South African authorities to enable Nigerians with immigration-related offences to leave the country through the repatriation programme instead of facing detention.
The planned evacuation comes weeks after Ghana successfully repatriated nearly 300 of its citizens from South Africa in the first phase of a broader exercise involving about 800 registered returnees.
Ebienfa noted that Nigeria had submitted its list of prospective returnees for clearance before Ghana but that Ghana’s request was given priority by the relevant authorities.
