By Shola Abayomi.
The chairperson of Nigerians in the Diaspora Commission, NIDCOM, Abike Dabiri-Erewa has revealed that the number of Nigerians willing to return to the country from South Africa had increased from 400 to 640.
The NIDCOM Chair, made the disclosure on Monday while briefing newsmen in Abuja.
Dabiri-Erewa also appeared before the Senate committee on diaspora yesterday, where she noted that two aircraft would airlift the Nigerian returnees back to the country in batches.
“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.
“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”, she stated.
She added that the Federal Government wasn’t relenting on its demands for compensation of the victims who lost their homes and means of livelihood in the onslaught on foreign nationals in South Africa.
“In the meantime, we continue to demand compensation for Nigerians that have been attacked in South Africa”, she said.