Nigerians Stranded in South Africa Cry Out as Evacuation Flights Fall Short

(Nigerians Stranded. Photo by Sahara Reports)

Nigerians in South Africa have raised the alarm over a worsening humanitarian crisis, lamenting that the Nigerian government is failing to provide enough evacuation flights despite growing numbers of citizens seeking to return home.

In a video recorded outside the Nigerian High Commission in Pretoria, community leaders and affected Nigerians said many people, including children, have spent several days sleeping outside the high commission while waiting to be registered for evacuation flights.

One of the speakers, who identified himself as Daddy Bill, said the situation outside the high commission had become unbearable, alleging that families from different parts of South Africa were left stranded after travelling long distances in the hope of securing seats on government-arranged flights.

"As you can see, I'm at the Nigerian High Commission right now, and a lot is going on here," he said, while showing crowds gathered outside the high commission.

According to him, Nigerians had travelled from Cape Town, East London, Port Elizabeth, Durban, Mpumalanga and the Free State, only to discover that available flights were insufficient to accommodate everyone seeking to return home.

"A lot of people came from far places just to come here to register to go home. But on getting here, they are all stranded," he said.

He criticised the Nigerian government's evacuation efforts, arguing that the number of flights approved so far fell far short of what was required.

"I just want to make this clear to the Nigerian government: your best is not yet enough. T

hree flights are not enough. Even five flights are not enough. It is not going to cost Nigeria anything to make sure everyone who comes here gets back home.

People are running for their lives," he said. Daddy Bill insisted that the government had the financial capacity to evacuate every Nigerian willing to leave South Africa.

"We have the money to bring more than 20 flights here to take everybody home. You can't subject people to things like this," he added.

Pointing to children gathered outside the high commission, he claimed some families had been sleeping there for days. "Look at children.

These kids have been outside here for the past four days.

These people have been here for more than two weeks waiting for a flight to go back home, and we have our Nigerian government, which can afford to repatriate all these people home," he said.

He further alleged that registration had been halted despite more Nigerians continuing to arrive at the high commission. "People are still coming to register, and they cannot be registered because they said it is over.

Why? People want to go home. They fear for their lives," he said, adding, "They say they are tired.

They want to go home. A lot of people are here. People are from Enugu, Anambra, Imo, Abia, Ebonyi, and Delta states, and all over Nigeria. We all have governors of these states I'm mentioning.

If every governor can come out and make sure that everybody here goes home. From the information I received here, the flight is going today or tomorrow; then the last flight is going on the 10th."

Another speaker, who introduced himself as Onuoha Ifeanyi Morris, President of Okigwe Leagues South Africa, appealed to the National Assembly to intervene, describing the situation as a humanitarian emergency.

"We are facing a very big humanitarian crisis. A lot of Nigerians don't have money to go home.

The president has done his best by bringing five flights, but we have more than 2,000 people outside here," Morris said.

He explained that many stranded Nigerians had travelled to the high commission for up to 18 hours by road from distant provinces after losing their homes and livelihoods.

"They have been sleeping outside.

They have lost everything they have. They chased them out," he said.

Morris appealed directly to Senate President Godswill Akpabio and members of the National Assembly to provide financial support for additional flights.

"I want to plead with the National Assembly.

Please, if it is possible, volunteer one ticket each or two tickets. Come to the rescue of Nigerians in South Africa. Let God touch your heart and help Nigerians to come home. We have children; we have kids here.

We are pleading with you to assist them," Morris said. He also urged wealthy Nigerians to contribute toward the evacuation effort.

"We also talk about the other rich Nigerians. Dangote, you are a billionaire. E-Money, Chief Priest, and all other billionaires, please come to the rescue of Nigerians in South Africa.

Buy tickets for them. Let them come home," Morris pleaded.

The speakers maintained that although they appreciated the Nigerian government's intervention, more evacuation flights were urgently needed to prevent stranded Nigerians from remaining exposed to hardship and insecurity. "We are making a passionate appeal.

If you can afford 10 people, buy a ticket for 10 people. If you can afford a ticket for one person, let us make sure that our people come home safely. It is better they come back alive than they be k!lled in South Africa," Morris said.

The outcry came as the Nigerian government announced the postponement of the fourth evacuation flight after a fault was detected on the aircraft scheduled for the repatriation exercise.

The postponement was announced on Wednesday, July 8, by the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kimiebi Ebienfa, who explained that the flight could not depart Johannesburg after engineers discovered cracks on the cockpit windscreen.

He noted that the affected aircraft had been grounded as a safety precaution, while Air Peace had been directed to deploy another aircraft to complete the evacuation.

Apologising for the inconvenience caused by the delay, Ebienfa said, "We have a situation in Johannesburg, South Africa regarding the operation of the fourth evacuation flight.

The flight couldn't take off because cracks were discovered on the windscreen in the cockpit. Air Peace will deploy another aircraft to South Africa later today to bring the returnees."

It was reported on Tuesday that the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, had urged Nigerians who believed their lives were at risk to take advantage of the remaining evacuation flights, warning that the security situation in South Africa had shown no sign of improving.

The minister said the evacuation programme had been extended beyond the June 30 deadline earlier approved by President Bola Tinubu because of the continued att@cks.

According to her, three evacuation operations had already been completed, while the fourth flight, initially scheduled to depart Johannesburg on Tuesday night with 270 Nigerians, was expected to arrive in Nigeria on Wednesday.