The Federal Government has postponed the fourth evacuation flight for stranded Nigerians in South Africa after a technical fault was discovered on the aircraft scheduled for the operation.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs disclosed on Wednesday that the flight was unable to depart from Johannesburg after engineers detected cracks on the cockpit windscreen during safety checks.

Spokesperson for the ministry, Kimiebi Ebienfa, said the aircraft was immediately grounded as a precautionary measure, adding that Air Peace has been directed to provide a replacement aircraft to complete the evacuation.

According to Ebienfa, the new aircraft is expected to depart for South Africa later on Wednesday to bring the stranded Nigerians home, while he apologised for the inconvenience caused by the delay.

The postponement comes a day after the Federal Government announced what it described as the final phase of its evacuation programme for Nigerians stranded in South Africa following renewed xenophobic attacks and growing security concerns.

Earlier, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, urged Nigerians who considered themselves at risk to take advantage of the remaining evacuation flights, noting that the security situation in South Africa had yet to improve.

She explained that the evacuation exercise was extended beyond the June 30 deadline earlier approved by President Bola Tinubu due to the continued attacks on Nigerians.

The minister said three evacuation flights had already been completed, while the fourth flight, originally scheduled to leave Johannesburg on Tuesday night with about 270 passengers, was expected to return another group of evacuees to Nigeria.

The evacuation exercise was initiated after the recent deaths of two Nigerians in South Africa — Emeka Charles Iroegbu, who was allegedly killed by officers of the Tshwane Metro Police in Pretoria, and Musa Yunana Joe, who was shot dead outside his shop in Witbank, Mpumalanga.

The Federal Government had condemned both killings and called on South African authorities to carry out a thorough investigation and ensure those responsible are brought to justice.

Despite the latest delay, officials said arrangements were already underway to dispatch another aircraft to Johannesburg to complete the evacuation of the stranded Nigerians as soon as possible.

(Photo Credit: The Cable)