For weeks now, rampaging menacing South Africans have been attacking migrants from other African countries and their businesses, particularly Ghanaians and Nigerians, claiming they are usurping the jobs and opportunities meant for them
Air Peace Chief Executive Officer, Allen Onyema, has revealed the crucial role the airline played in the evacuation of Nigerians from South Africa amid the fresh wave of xenophobic uprising in the country.
For weeks now, rampaging menacing South Africans have been attacking migrants from other African countries and their businesses, particularly Ghanaians and Nigerians, claiming they are usurping the jobs and opportunities meant for them.
Affected countries have since begun evacuating their citizens from South Africa as the June 30 deadline for migrants from African countries to leave the country approaches.
Speaking on the airlifting of Nigerians from South Africa, Onyema said the latest evacuation exercise was subsidised by Air Peace.
Speaking during an interview with Ojy Okpe on ARISE News on Thursday, Onyema disclosed that Air Peace had to offset the cost of evacuating Nigerians due to rising operational costs and limited funding support.
Onyema explained that while Air Peace had undertaken evacuation missions at no cost in the past, the prevailing harsh economic realities in the aviation sector made it difficult to provide full subsidies.
Onyema said, “I’ve done about 16 evacuations for this country free of charge, running to several millions.”
He noted that the aviation industry is currently under severe pressure, adding, “You also know that this particular point in time is not good for any airline. That is the truth. The cost of aviation fuel has quadrupled.”
He also cleared the air on payment by the federal government for the evacuation exercise, noting that the funds provided by the government for the evacuation could not cover the cost of the operation and he had to step in to subsidise it.
He added, “So it’s not as if it was totally, fully funded like I’m seeing in the papers. That is not the cost. I don’t want to mention it.”
Responding to a question on whether he was referring to the flights that landed on June 11, Onyema said, “Yes… I subsidised it. The President has approved funds for further evacuation.”
He explained that the arrangement was fuelled by the need to ensure continuity of evacuation operations despite funding gaps and rising industry costs.
He added that the evacuation was partly subsidised by Air Peace due to rising operational costs, while confirming that the Federal Government has approved further evacuation funding.
