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By Lawrence Agbo
The Federal Government has begun discussions with South African authorities over compensation for Nigerians forced to abandon businesses and other valuable assets while fleeing renewed anti-immigrant tensions in the country.
The move comes as another batch of 269 Nigerians arrived in Lagos aboard an evacuation flight, bringing the total number of citizens repatriated under the government’s emergency programme to 603.
Speaking on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief, Acting Nigerian High Commissioner to South Africa, Temitope Ajayi, said the government had started compiling detailed records of properties and investments left behind by returnees to support compensation claims.
According to him, evacuees have been directed to accurately document businesses, vehicles, shops, and other movable and immovable assets abandoned during their departure.
“We have asked our people who are returning to document very accurately what they are leaving behind in terms of businesses, cars, movable and immovable properties. We will take this up with the South African government for possible compensation,” Ajayi said.
He stressed that the evacuation exercise would not end with the transport of Nigerians back home, adding that the government intends to work with South African authorities to verify the abandoned properties before formally pursuing compensation.
Ajayi also rejected claims that most evacuated Nigerians were undocumented migrants, maintaining that many entered South Africa legally but became trapped by prolonged delays in the country’s immigration system.
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He explained that thousands of foreign nationals had experienced years-long delays in renewing permits due to administrative backlogs at South Africa’s Home Affairs Department.
According to him, describing such individuals as undocumented was misleading because they had initially complied with immigration requirements before the system failed to process their applications.
The latest evacuation forms part of five Air Peace flights approved by President Bola Tinubu to bring home Nigerians affected by the recent wave of anti-immigrant protests in South Africa.
Officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs received the returnees in Lagos and assured them of the government’s commitment to their welfare.
The ministry also disclosed that evacuation flights would continue beyond the June 30 deadline set by South African authorities for undocumented migrants to leave the country.
Meanwhile, Nigerian residents in South Africa reported that the anti-immigrant protests remained largely peaceful due to heavy deployment of security personnel, including the military, across major cities.
South African authorities deployed about 13,000 law enforcement officers, supported by helicopters, drones and thousands of surveillance cameras, to prevent violence and protect businesses during the demonstrations.
Some Nigerians living in the country, however, appealed to the Federal Government to increase the number of evacuation flights, saying many more citizens remain stranded and are willing to return home.
