ADEBOYE WELCOMES NIGERIANS REPATRIATED FROM SOUTH AFRICA

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General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has welcomed Nigerians who recently returned from South Africa under a repatriation programme funded by the church.

Adeboye said 105 Nigerians had safely arrived in Nigeria as part of the first batch of a humanitarian intervention expected to bring home at least 500 Nigerians. The returnees were flown from Johannesburg to Lagos, with the RCCG funding their air transportation.

The initiative followed an appeal from the Nigerian diplomatic mission in South Africa for assistance with the return of Nigerians who had been profiled and documented for repatriation.

Chairman of the RCCG Task Force for the Reception of Nigerian Returnees from South Africa, Pastor Belemina Obunge, said the beneficiaries were not selected based on their religious affiliation. He said Muslims, Christians and Nigerians from other faiths were included in the programme.

Government agencies, including the National Emergency Management Agency and the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons, received the returnees at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.

The returnees underwent profiling before arrangements were made for their onward movement to their respective states.

Adeboye said the church would continue to pray for the returnees as government agencies complete the processes required to reunite them with their families.

The RCCG had earlier donated $265,854 to support the evacuation of 500 distressed Nigerians from South Africa.