Again, 315 Nigerians return from South Africa – TheNigerialawyer

Another batch of 315 Nigerians fleeing xenophobic attacks in
South Africa yesterday arrived at 7.45p.m., through the Murtala
Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

This brings the total number of Nigerians evacuated from the
Southern African country to 493.

Alighting from Air Peace B777-300, many of the returnees
expressed thanks to the Federal Government and Air Peace for the
quick intervention in bringing them, despite several millions of
naira lost to the rampaging South African marauders.

Immediately after their arrival, the returnees were offered free
medical tests by Louis Medical Hospital to check their health
status and to know if they were HIV positives.

However, all of them tested for HIV tested negative. But those
who showed symptoms of malaria were referred to the hospital to be
treated free of charge.

They were, however, referred to a desk where their passports
were verified and stamped, showing they were not deported, but came
home on their own volition.

Unlike the first batch that returned on Wednesday last week,
many of the returnees came back with their families, many of them
children and infants.

Both the returnees and those waiting to receive them wept freely
as the victims of xenophobic attacks in the former apartheid
enclave recounted their horrific experiences.

Nigeria began repatriating more than 600 of its citizens from
South Africa following a wave of deadly xenophobic attacks that
frayed diplomatic relations with neighbouring nations.

Air Peace volunteered to fly people for free back to Lagos. The
returnees burst into tears as they alighted from the aircraft that
flew them into Lagos.

They expressed their bitter experiences in the hands of South
Africans.

NEMA gave each of the returnees N10,000 while MTN and Airtel
gave each returnee N90,000 making N180,000 from the telcos. Lagos
State also gave each returnee N20,000 while they were also given
Tecno mobile phone each.

Speaking with journalists, the Chairman, Air Peace Airlines, Mr.
Allen Onyema, said a lot of them were happy to return home.

Onyema added that he decided to come to the returnees’ rescue to
save Nigeria from embarrassment meted out to her by South
Africa.

He said his decision to intervene in rescuing Nigerians from
that country was borne out of genuine love and not to curry
publicity.

The chairman said the 18-man Air Peace crew went for a rescue
mission and spent over 24 hours to bring the returnees back.

He said: “When Captain Egonu and his team came back, they
rejected allowances of $42,000, saying it was their own
contribution to bring these Nigerians back. They said if their
chairman could decide to do this job free of charge, they too said
they want to learn to give back to the society. They had the money,
but they returned the money.”

Onyema said the singular action had brought back respect to
Nigeria.

He said: “I can tell you that. It was a bad advertisement for
South Africa. All over the world, people are talking about this
evacuation. They said once Nigeria rises up to the act, they will
be respected and we are now respected. It is not about Air Peace,
it is about nationhood.

“The truth is that, without this non-violent action that we
engendered, xenophobia will still be happening. That is the
non-violence we have engendered by doing this. If not, nobody would
have come here to apologise to Nigeria. This evacuation is a bad
signal to any country. That was why they wanted to stop us from
evacuating because flights are now going back empty to South
Africa.”

Onyema stated that tourists were now shunning South Africa
because of xenophobia.

He wondered why South Africa degenerated to the situation where
fellow Africans are killed.

Onyema commended the Federal Government for the strong support
given to his carrier to rescue Nigerians trapped in South
Africa.

He said: “We brought 315 today. The Foreign Affairs Ministry has
just informed me now that we should give them time to profile the
people we have now and make sure that the next people that are
coming are the right people who need to come and not people who are
coming for holiday. As far as there are Nigerians remaining to be
evacuated, Air Peace will fly its equipment there free of
charge.”

The Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Diaspora
Commission, Abike Dabiri Erewa, told New Telegraph that the Federal
Government decided to assist the returnees, especially the skilled
ones, with palliatives for now until they were assisted by their
state governments.

She said: “What we did immediately they landed was to give them
data and airtime and cash that would last them for some time. We
have appealed to kind hearted Nigerians to support them. Their only
crime is that they are Nigerians. States are also encouraged to
support their citizens. We have profiled them according to their
states and they have been responding as we have been communicating
with them.

“The Bank of Industry has reached out to them to empower them to
know exactly what they want to do. There is adequate arrangement
for all of them. There is a widow with four children. There is
scholarship coming for the children and I am sure they are glad to
be home.

“We are getting offers from Non-Governmental Organisations
(NGOs). Everybody will be settled. The children will go to school.
State governors are responding. What each has is not too much to
take care of them. They are happy to be home.

“It is going to be a gradual process of resettling them. We have
somebody here who is already talking to them about
entrepreneurship. We will reach out to them to find out how they
are doing.”

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