First Batch of Nigerians From South Africa to Arrive Ikeja Airport Thursday Morning - Foreign Affairs Minister Says

The first batch of repatriation of Nigerians from South Africa will touch the Nigerian International Airport, Ikeja on Thursday morning, being June 11, 2026, Next Africa Daily can report.

They are expected to depart Johannesburg on Wednesday night and arrive Nigeria on Thursday morning at about 5.00am. About 270 passengers are expected to board the Air peace airline. More than 1000 have registered for the evacuation from South Africa.

According to the Nigerian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bianca Odumegwu Ojukwu, the flight was initially billed for Monday but was later moved to Wednesday and landing in Nigeria airport on Thursday morning.

"The repatriation is on course. The president himself has reiterated the fact that the aircraft will come to South Africa and our citizens will have the chance of getting on the aircraft to be brought back to their country," Ojukwu told journalists in Abuja.

She said the evacuees will go through several processes that have to be undertaken by South African Home Affairs and the security agencies. We will ensure that we screen our citizens who want to return to Nigeria."

She said the decision of the president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to evacuate Nigerians, was necessitated following the rise in hostilities against Nigerians by the citizens of South Africa.

"We have people in different provinces, we also have people who need to be assisted, to get to the Nigerian consulate in Johannesburg, so we are doing all that, but the documentation which is the most important aspect of this has been done.

"The truth is that Nigerian citizens are being harassed, their properties are being looted, criminal actions are being perpetuated on our citizens.

"The police refuse to do anything, and the South African government has not come out strongly, firmly enough to condemn these incidents.

" So, our citizens are in distress. They cannot be said to be illegal migrants, people who are doing legitimate business have their shop looted, have their shop set on fire. And you're calling them illegal migrants?

"Children cannot go to school because they are intimidated in their schools. So to say that Nigerians who are in South Africa doing legitimate business are illegal migrants is absolutely untrue.

"Nigerians are not happy because Nigeria has sacrificed much for the South Africa struggle for independence. Nigeria sacrificed quite a lot, we committed a lot of funds and resources to aid South Africa in schools.

"Seats were reserved for South African students during the time of apartheid. In my own generation, we carried placards, we demonstrated in front of South Africa assets, just for the sake of South Africa.

"Nigerians are not happy about how they have treated us. They are not asking white migrants to leave, they are only asking the blacks to leave."

Mrs. Ojukwu said the evacuation ia being executed in collaboration with the Nigerian Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and other federal government agencies and parastatals.