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A report by The Nation indicates that another set of 320 Nigerians trapped in xenophobic attacks in South Africa will arrive at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, Tuesday, September 17.
            A Boeing 777 – 300 belonging to Air Peace and its crew will depart Lagos in the early hours for Oliver Tambo International Airport This will be the second batch of Nigerians to be evacuated after 187 Nigerians arrived Lagos last week. Confirming this on the phone, chairman of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, said the airline was working with the Nigerian High Commissioner in South Africa, who confirmed the ongoing profiling of Nigerians billed to return home. Onyema said the airline is fully mobilised for the operation, saying efforts are on to deploy a bigger aircraft with capacity for 367 passengers to bring home Nigerians who are willing. According to him, the high commission has prepared over 350 Nigerians for the flight, hoping that the sour experience of flying an aircraft half full, as it experienced last week is not favourable to the airline. His words: “Air Peace is fully mobilised for the next batch of the evacuation of Nigerians from South Africa. “We did not suspend flights, we only waited for the Nigerian High Commission in South Africa to prepare the next batch. The whole idea is not to fly a half-full aircraft, which would make us incur more costs and other logistics. We are fully set for Tuesday, our aircraft and crew will leave about four o clock and get to South Africa about Nine o clock for the operations. We hope about 350 Nigerians are ready so that we fly enough passengers not to leave the aircraft empty. As an airline, we are ready to bring back from South Africa all Nigerians willing to return. We, however, thank President Muhammadu Buhari for the opportunity to carry out this national service. The president did not play politics with this matter.

            Meanwhile, a prominent pro-democracy and civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has described the response of the Nigerian government on the xenophobic attacks in South Africa as “weak.” HURIWA in a media statement sent to journalists on Wednesday, September 4 and signed by its the national coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, frowned at the attitude of the Nigerian government, adding that “President Muhammadu Buhari has not been forceful in reacting to the killings of Nigerians in South Africa.” The group urged the president to “take concrete, forceful and impactful actions against South Africa.