186 Nigerians stranded in South Africa set to return home

One hundred and eighty-six Nigerians stranded in South Africa are on their way home.

The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) which disclosed this via its official Twitter handle, said the evacuees will arrive at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos aboard an Air Peace flight.

“All Evacuees tested Negative to #COVID19 before boarding and will proceed on 14-day self-isolation as mandated by NCDC, FMOH and PTF on COVID-19 on arrival,” the agency added.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic had halted international travels across the world, prompting different countries to evacuate their citizens stranded in other nations.

Although Nigeria took a while before evacuating its citizens stranded abroad, the country has as of July 21st, evacuated 6,317 Nigerians.

The NIDCOM Chairman, Abike Dabiri-Erewa said Nigerian has successfully repatriated citizens from Egypt, France, India, Turkey, Sudan, Uganda and Kenya.

Also not left out are Senegal, Pakistan, Egypt, China, Malaysia and Thailand, Lebanon, Canada, South Africa, and Ghana.

As the country continues to reopen its economy, the Federal Government had on Monday disclosed that international flights will resume on August 29th.

“We are very glad today to announce that international flights will resume from August 29, 2020,” the Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, said during a briefing of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19.

“However, what we have become used to – physical distancing, wearing of masks, washing of hands, temperature taking, etc will continue.”

He explained that it will commence at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos and the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja.