Over 742 Nigerians still awaiting evacuation from South Africa – FG

Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, has assured the roughly 1,000 Nigerians who registered for evacuation from South Africa that they will all be airlifted home before the June 30 anti-migrant deadline, with the first 258 already back on home soil.

The Nigerian government is racing against the clock to get its citizens out of South Africa before a dangerous deadline hits. Foreign Affairs Minister Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu has promised that no Nigerian who wants to come home will be left behind as xenophobic attacks on migrants continue to escalate.

As reported by Vanguard, Odumegwu-Ojukwu confirmed the evacuation is already in motion. The first batch of 258 Nigerians was successfully airlifted from South Africa and received at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, on June 11 by the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Sola Enikanolaiye.

About 1,000 Nigerians have so far registered for evacuation from South Africa ahead of the June 30 deadline given by anti-immigrant groups in the country, meaning over 742 more Nigerians are still waiting to be flown home in the coming days.

Four more repatriation flights are scheduled to complete the process.

The minister didn’t hold back on the tension with Pretoria either. She revealed that South African authorities declined to activate a Memorandum of Understanding signed with Nigeria in October 2025 on an early warning mechanism intended to protect citizens of both countries during periods of tension, arguing that those who signed on its behalf lacked the authority to make it binding.

Nigeria is not alone — Ghana, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Mozambique have also begun evacuating their nationals from South Africa as concerns over the attacks continue to grow.

President Tinubu, the minister stressed, has personally directed that no Nigerian facing danger in South Africa and willing to return be denied the chance to do so.