Abike Dabiri-Erewa, chairperson
of Nigerians in the Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), says 640 Nigerians have
indicated interest to return to home from South Africa.
Dabiri-Erewa made this known
while fielding questions from journalists on Monday. Godwin Adama, Nigeria’s
consul-general in South Africa, had earlier said 400 Nigerians had indicated
interest in returning home.
Adama, who disclosed this to NAN
on Sunday, had said more Nigerians were still showing interest.
Nigerians and other African
nationals were affected in the latest xenophobic attacks in South Africa.
In protest, Nigeria had boycotted
the World Economic Forum (WEF) that held in the country. President Muhammadu
Buhari also sent a special envoy to the South African government over the
development.
Air Peace had offered to convey
Nigerians seeking to return home from South Africa free of charge.
When she appeared before the
senate committee on diaspora on Monday, Dabiri-Erewa said two aircraft would
convey the Nigerians willing to come back home.
She said the federal government
is still demanding that compensation be paid to the victims of the attacks.
“As I speak with you now, we have
640 Nigerians voluntarily registered to come home and they will be home in a
couple of days and we believe that more will still be coming to register,” she
said.
“Two planes will convey them. the
envoy will be briefing the president. When we receive the first two batches, we
will know how many more will come. With the envoy’s briefing to the president,
we will be having everything in place.
“They went on their own and have
volunteered to come back. They belong to states as well but on the part of the
federal government, we have the GEEP programme that we encourage them to enrol
in, small scale entrepreneurial programme with the Bank of Industry, Special
Intervention Programme also.
“In the meantime, we continue to
demand compensation for Nigerians that have been attacked in South Africa.”
On his part, Ajibola Bashiru,
chairman of the committee, said the issue is one that required “political
will.”
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