A new group of 67 Nigerians, including 34 children, has returned from South Africa in a privately funded repatriation, a week after a similar batch of 83 returnees.

A new batch of 67 Nigerians repatriated from South Africa arrived at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, aboard a South African Airways flight on Wednesday night, a week after 83 Nigerians were repatriated from the country in a similar exercise.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu said the return of the 67 Nigerians, like the previous batch, was sponsored by private individuals.

“This group is also facilitating this latest exercise amidst unrelenting concerns over the safety and welfare of our nationals in South Africa occasioned by reports of continuing xenophobic incidents and protests by groups calling for the deportation of foreign nationals,” she said.

The minister had previously indicated that the same group of private sponsors had committed to funding additional batches of returnees who no longer felt safe in South Africa, suggesting this exercise was a planned continuation rather than a one-off.

Who Came Home

Odumegwu-Ojukwu said the new batch comprised 30 adults, 34 children and one infant, drawn from Lagos, Enugu, Kogi, Ogun, Imo, Oyo, Delta, Edo, Anambra, Osun, Benue, Abia and Kwara states. She renewed an appeal to state governments to complement federal repatriation efforts by assisting their returning indigenes, many of whom she said had abandoned livelihoods and property in South Africa, with relocation and resettlement support.

Kimiebi Ebienfa, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the returnees were addressed on the sponsoring group’s behalf by Ikem Ume-Ezeoke, the exercise’s coordinator, and businessman and philanthropist Charles Mba, who each gave returnees N50,000. Mba urged the returnees to remain patriotic and comply with the necessary regulatory requirements of relevant agencies, saying what happened in South Africa should not be allowed to hinder their growth, particularly that of the children. Ume-Ezeoke commended the Federal Government’s previous efforts and said Nigeria held potential the returnees could still tap into.

A Continuing Pattern

According to the ministry, the 83-person batch repatriated the previous week brought the cumulative total of Nigerians returned from South Africa under the voluntary repatriation programme to 1,573, a figure consistent with the government’s earlier baseline of roughly 1,490 returnees before that batch. With the addition of this latest group of 67, the total now stands at approximately 1,640.

The repatriation programme has continued amid a wider wave of anti-migrant sentiment in South Africa this year, with rights groups reporting mass departures of foreign nationals and, in earlier cases, violent incidents targeting Nigerians and other African migrants.

The government has said it remains committed to protecting Nigerians abroad under President Bola Tinubu’s Citizen Diplomacy agenda. Beyond the privately funded flights, some returnees have separately received support from state governments and private organisations, including cash grants and SIM/data packages, once back in Nigeria.