Nigerians will continue the scheduled evacuation of the next batch of evacuees from South Africa on Sunday to enable the Nigerian High Commission in South Africa to resolve some immigration issues with South African authorities.
South African authorities on Tuesday became an impediment to Nigerians who were trying to return following xenophobic attacks by arresting them, this caused an over 7-hour delay and the reduction of the first batch of returnees from 320 to 187 Nigerians
It was gathered that the remaining 453 Nigerians waiting for repatriation in Johannesburg would have to wait until the bottlenecks were over.
Chairman, Nigerians in the Diaspora Commission, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, confirmed on Thursday, that the government was working round the clock to put an end to the current impasse.
Dabiri-Erewa said, “About 640 registered to come home. Out of 317 billed to return by Air Peace in the first batch, 187 returned due to some bottlenecks put in place at the last minute by the South African authorities.
“Because of the serious hurdles put in place by the authorities, we will have to wait for an update from the consulate as they resolve some issues with the SA authorities.
She said, “We will wait for further advice from the CG (Consul-General) of our mission in Johannesburg on the next steps. We are looking at Saturday or Sunday, but I can’t confirm the day as documentation is ongoing.”
