A plane carrying 268 Nigerians touched down in Lagos on Thursday morning, the first group of a planned mass evacuation prompted by a surge in anti-migrant violence in South Africa.
Passengers filed off the aircraft after leaving Johannesburg hours earlier. They were among about 1,000 people who the Nigerian consulate says have registered for voluntary return, as campaigners set a 30 June deadline for undocumented migrants to leave.
“Nigeria evacuates 268 citizens from South Africa as xenophobic attacks and anti-migrant protests escalate.”
Justin, a Nigerian who had lived in South Africa since 1998, told the BBC he was leaving because of the conditions. “They say we must leave on or before 30th June. And because of the way they are killing people, killing our brothers, so I’m not safe,” he said. He described being attacked in a taxi: “I ran away and left my things. I left my phone and everything. They call us names and say you must leave this country.”
Hairdresser and mother-of-three Chinwe Osuala, who also returned on the flight, said she had been attacked in her business premises during an earlier wave of xenophobic attacks. “You can’t even walk around freely. You’ll be scared, the children are scared – that’s the main reason I came back, because of the children,” she said. But she added: “When you talk about South Africans not all of them are xenophobic, there are people who love you deeply, genuinely.”
Nigeria’s foreign minister, Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, said the president ordered the “evacuation of imperilled Nigerian citizens who consider their lives at risk by continued stay in South Africa”. She told those returning: “The price of your peace and the safety of your children is worth any sacrifices you have to make, or any assets you have to leave behind when fleeing a conflict zone or hate-infested environment.”
South African authorities, however, presented a different account. Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber said the returnees were found to be in the country illegally and were declared “undesirable persons”, prohibiting them from re-entering South Africa for five years. “Foreign nationals must ensure that their immigration status remains compliant with South African immigration laws at all times,” he said. According to the Home Affairs Department, 586 Nigerians were processed for repatriation after being found undocumented, with the next group due to leave on Monday.
The repatriation follows similar moves by Ghana, Zimbabwe and Malawi. Ghana has evacuated about 1,000 nationals, most of whom South African officials said were undocumented. Liberia has also expressed concern, with President Joseph Boakai saying the government will take any necessary steps to facilitate returns.
Nigeria’s Diaspora Commission head, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, told the BBC that the emergency management agency would transport returnees to destinations across Nigeria’s 36 states, and that they had received financial assistance of more than 100,000 naira ($73) along with mobile phone credit.
Unemployment in South Africa stands at more than 30%, fuelling resentment against migrants who have arrived since the end of white-minority rule in 1994. Protest marches have been held in major cities, and police have not released official figures for deaths caused by xenophobic violence in recent weeks.