Scores of stranded Nigerians in South Africa have appealed to the Federal Government to increase the number of evacuation flights, saying hundreds of citizens, including women and children, have been forced to sleep outside the Nigerian High Commission in Pretoria while waiting for an opportunity to return home.
In a video recorded outside the Nigerian High Commission and seen on Thursday, affected Nigerians and community leaders described the situation as a growing humanitarian crisis, alleging that the current evacuation arrangement is inadequate to meet the increasing number of people seeking to leave the country.
One of the speakers, who identified himself as Daddy Bill, said families from across South Africa travelled long distances to register for evacuation flights but were left stranded after discovering there were not enough seats.
“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 mission.
According to him, Nigerians travelled from Cape Town, East London, Port Elizabeth, Durban, Mpumalanga and the Free State, only to find that the available flights could not accommodate everyone hoping to return to Nigeria.
“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.
Daddy Bill argued that the evacuation effort announced by the Nigerian government falls short of what is required.
“I just want to make this clear to the Nigerian government: your best is not yet enough. Three flights are not enough. Even five flights are not enough,” he said.
“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 insisted that the government has the resources to deploy more aircraft and 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 outside the High Commission, Daddy Bill claimed some families had been sleeping there for four days, while others had waited for more than two weeks in the hope of getting a flight back to Nigeria.
He also alleged that registration had been suspended 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.
He added that those stranded came from different parts of Nigeria, including Enugu, Anambra, Imo, Abia, Ebonyi and Delta States, and appealed to state governors to support efforts to bring their citizens home.
Another community leader, Onuoha Ifeanyi Morris, President of Okigwe Leagues South Africa, described the situation as a humanitarian emergency and appealed to the National Assembly to intervene.
“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 said many of those stranded had travelled for up to 18 hours by road 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 to Senate President, Godswill Akpabio and members of the National Assembly to help fund additional evacuation flights. He also called on wealthy Nigerians, including Aliko Dangote, E-Money and Cubana Chief Priest, to support the evacuation by purchasing flight tickets for stranded citizens.
“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 killed in South Africa,” he said.
The appeal comes after the Nigerian government announced the postponement of the fourth evacuation flight following the discovery of cracks on the cockpit windscreen of the aircraft scheduled for the operation.
The postponement was announced on Wednesday, July 8, by the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kimiebi Ebienfa, who said the aircraft was grounded as a safety precaution and that Air Peace had been directed to deploy a replacement aircraft to complete the evacuation.
Ebienfa apologised for the delay, saying the fourth evacuation flight could not depart Johannesburg after engineers detected the fault during pre-flight checks.
Earlier, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, urged Nigerians who believe their lives are at risk to take advantage of the remaining evacuation flights, noting that the exercise had been extended beyond the June 30 deadline approved by President Bola Tinubu because of the continued insecurity.
According to the Minister, three evacuation flights had already been completed, while the fourth operation, initially scheduled to depart Johannesburg with 270 Nigerians, was expected to bring another batch of returnees home.
