More Nigerians evacuated from South Africa amid June 30 anti-immigrant protests

Another batch of Nigerians repatriated from South Africa arrived in Lagos on Tuesday as they were forced to flee widespread xenophobic attacks.

Ambali Abdulkabeer • June 30, 2026

South Africans during June 30 protest

Another batch of Nigerians repatriated from South Africa arrived in Lagos on Tuesday as they were forced to flee violent xenophobic attacks.

About 271 Nigerians were carried by the Air Peace flight, which landed at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport before 11:00 a.m.

Several agencies, including the National Emergency Management Agency, the Nigeria Immigration Service, and the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, received the new set of evacuees.

This latest evacuation is part of the federal government’s effort to repatriate Nigerians willing to leave the country amid a surge of anti-immigration and xenophobic tensions in the country.

Prior to this development, a total of 328 Nigerians had already been repatriated in two batches. While the first flight, which landed on June 11, brought back 262 returnees, the second batch of 66 arrived in Lagos on June 25.

The evacuation of Nigerians from South Africa came a day after Smart Nwobi, the president of the Nigerian Union in South Africa, decried delayed evacuation plans, alleging that more than 1,000 Nigerians were stranded, homeless, and displaced.

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