The 315 Nigerians fleeing xenophobia who arrived yesterday have received a sum of N20,000 from Lagos State Government on Wednesday, PUNCH reports.
The returnees, who were successfully evacuated on Wednesday about a week after the first batch, arrived at the Cargo Wing of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.
READ ALSO: Four Banks make N24.3 billion off Customers’ account
Dabiri-Erewa told newsmen that the returnees were given this toxen to assist them in transporting themselves to their various locations.
Dabiri-Erewa also noted that the Nigeria High Commission was working with the South African authorities to reduce the unnecessary delays which had so far characterised the evacuation exercise, as the evacuation yesterday was delayed several hours doing to documentation and license approval from the South African government.
The CEO of Air Peace, Onyema, told newsmen that some Nigerians had been stranded in South Africa for over four years and could not return home due to financial difficulties and lack of proper documentation, PUNCH reports.
He said,
“What Air Peace is doing to freely evacuate Nigerians from South Africa as part of our support for the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration and we are doing it wholeheartedly. The airline is only asking the government to do what it has been doing to facilitate the smooth return of the Nigerians.
“We are not asking for any refund because we knew that the cost of evacuating the Nigerians will exceed N300 million at the end of the day.
“We are so happy that even our pilots and crew that went to South Africa refused to take their allowances saying that it is their own way of showing patriotism,” Onyema said.