The evacuation of Nigerians from South Africa has continued to gather pace, with another batch of 266 returnees landing in Lagos aboard an Air Peace charter flight. According to Channels Television, the fresh arrival is the latest movement in an exercise that the federal government has kept running in recent days, as it works to bring home nationals who had been living and working in South Africa.
The station reported that this is the fourth batch to be evacuated from South Africa, underlining that the operation has settled into a steady rhythm of successive flights rather than a one-off airlift. With each aircraft that touches down at the Lagos international airport, the scale of the exercise has become clearer, as more citizens are gradually moved out of the country and returned to Nigeria.
With the latest arrival, the total number of Nigerians repatriated under the ongoing exercise has risen to more than 800. That figure reflects the cumulative effect of the earlier batches together with the newest group of 266 returnees, and points to a repatriation effort that has grown well beyond its first flights into a sustained government-backed operation.
The evacuation is taking place amid continued federal government efforts to ensure a safe return for its citizens, following recent xenophobic attacks in South Africa. The authorities have framed the exercise as a response to the conditions that many Nigerians faced there, presenting the airlift as a way of shielding affected nationals from further harm and offering them a route back home.
At the Lagos international airport, men, women and children filed out of the aircraft as the returnees stepped back onto Nigerian soil. The presence of entire families among the arrivals highlighted that the exercise is not limited to a narrow group of workers, but instead covers a broad cross-section of Nigerians who had built their lives in South Africa before deciding, or being compelled, to leave.
For many of those on board, the return has brought a measure of relief after a difficult period abroad. Some of the returnees described their reason for coming back home and spoke of their feelings on arrival, while others praised the Nigerian government for the way the evacuation had been organised before their departure, describing the support they received as they prepared to travel.
Authorities say the evacuation exercise will continue until all affected citizens are safely brought home, indicating that further flights are expected in the coming period. As the operation goes on, the focus remains on completing the repatriation of Nigerians who left behind their lives and livelihoods in South Africa, with the government signalling that it intends to see the exercise through to its conclusion.