Nigeria President, Muhammadu Buhari had posted on his twitter account on Monday that: "Let me also say that we have made arrangements for the immediate voluntary evacuation of all Nigerians in South Africa who are willing to return home. I have directed the relevant agencies to ensure this is done speedily and efficiently."

Despite Buhari and the Nigerian consul general in Johannesburg confirming an evacuation would take place, Dlodlo insisted this was not the case.

"There is no government call by the government of Nigeria to evacuate its citizens," she said.

"What has happened here and this is through discussions at a diplomatic mission level..is that a private citizen, who owns an airline has offered to evacuate Nigerians from South Africa and obviously there are immigration rules that go with that. It's a process that will have to go through normal channels...but there is no call by the Nigerian government to evacuate its citizens."

ANA