The second batch of Nigerian returnees fleeing from xenophobic attacks in South Africa arrived in Nigeria on Wednesday. More than 300 Nigerians were flown home from South Africa on Wednesday in the second evacuation in a week after a wave of anti-migrant violence there claimed at least 12 lives.
“They’re coming off the plane,” said Ibrahim Farinloye, spokesman of the national emergency management agency, adding that he was not able to give an exact figure for the evacuees but he had been told there were 314. A large crowd greeted the evacuees at the airport of the country’s economic capital Lagos after they disembarked around 9 pm (2200 GMT).
Last week nearly 200 other Nigerians were repatriated aboard a specially chartered plane following the violence that rocked Johannesburg and surrounding areas. A series of deadly attacks on foreigners included many directed against Nigerian-owned businesses and properties. Hundreds of shops were looted or destroyed.
Some 100,000 Nigerians are estimated to reside in South Africa, according to the Nigerian consulate in Johannesburg, which says however that it does not have exact figures. The fleeing returnees were aided by the Federal Government with the assistance of a Nigerian carrier, Air Peace.
The B777 aircraft, with registration number 5N-BWI, which departed Oliver Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg, landed at the Cargo Wing of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, at 7.22 p.m. NAN
