Trending 
The Nigerian government has evacuated another 111 distressed citizens from South Africa amid concerns over xenophobic and Afrophobic attacks in the country.
The returnees, comprising 44 men, 23 women and 44 children, arrived in Lagos aboard South African Airways Flight SA060 on Thursday, October 8, 2026.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs disclosed this in a statement issued on Sunday and signed by its spokesperson, Oluwafemi Adeniyi.
Read More : Ex-Power Minister Denies Anti-APC Remarks
According to the ministry, officials from the ministry, the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, the National Emergency Management Agency and other relevant government agencies received the returnees.
The ministry said the latest evacuation was fully funded by a $265,854 donation from the Redeemed Christian Church of God to support the return of 500 distressed Nigerians from South Africa.
“The arrival of the returnees brings the total number of consular evacuations conducted from South Africa to 15 since the commencement of the ongoing evacuation exercise on 10th June, 2026,” the statement said.
It added that the latest operation brought the cumulative number of Nigerians evacuated from South Africa to 2,037, including 1,388 whose repatriation costs the Nigerian government fully covered.
The ministry said 318 Nigerians had benefited from the church-funded evacuation programme, leaving 182 more people to be repatriated under the RCCG’s commitment.
Read More : Tinubu Hails World Bank Report on Reforms
It stated, “With the successful evacuation of this RCCG-funded batch, a total of 318 Nigerian nationals have had their one-way tickets funded by the church. Therefore, 182 more nationals are expected to be repatriated under RCCG’s commitment to fund 500 one-way tickets.”
The Nigerian government expressed appreciation to the RCCG, under the leadership of its General Overseer, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, for supporting the evacuation exercise.
