Abia State Governor Alex Otti has approved N31 million in immediate financial assistance for 31 state indigenes who recently returned from South Africa following reported xenophobic attacks.
Each verified returnee is expected to receive N1 million as interim support.
The state government said the payment was designed to help beneficiaries cope with the immediate economic impact of their sudden return.
Officials are also carrying out detailed profiling to determine the personal circumstances and needs of each returnee.
The exercise is expected to guide longer term reintegration programmes.
Possible interventions include skills training, business support, healthcare and psychosocial assistance, depending on the outcome of the assessment.
The government said the returnees may have experienced displacement, property losses and emotional trauma.
It stressed that the cash payment was therefore only an initial response rather than the entire support package.
Otti said the administration wanted every Abia indigene facing hardship to have an opportunity to recover and rebuild.
The government also said it would seek to reintegrate returnees into productive economic activity instead of leaving them dependent on emergency assistance.
Community leaders welcomed the intervention and described it as timely.
The 31 beneficiaries are expected to receive their payments while the state continues designing more sustainable support measures.
