• S/Africa denies suspending visa issuance
• FG lauds fresh repatriation financed by private citizens
The Federal Government and its South African counterpart yesterday clashed over the cause of anti-migrant violence in South Africa, with Abuja accusing Pretoria of inciting commentary and Pretoria insisting that South Africans were not xenophobic, considering the 3.9 million migrant population.
The exchange took place at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) roundtable discussion with the theme: “South Africa’s ‘Xenophobia’ in Comparative Perspective”, in Lagos.
In a related development, Nigerian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, has applauded individuals who sponsored returnees’ air tickets, complementing the government’s efforts to address the xenophobic crisis.
Speaking at the event, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Amb. Sola Enikanolaiye decried what he described as inciting rhetoric by some South African government officials, saying that it created the environment for violence and eroded Nelson Mandela’s legacy.
He said while Nigeria acknowledged South Africa’s right to manage migration, it was a gross distortion to scapegoat foreigners for structural problems they did not create, and insisted that Nigerians and other African migrants were not responsible for the economic challenges in the country.
“Nigerians did not create unemployment. Migrants did not design dysfunctional municipal systems. Migrants did not create corruption or institutional weaknesses.
“These are challenges faced not only by South Africa, but many other countries, including my own. Indeed, recent reports drawing on official economic evidence continually highlight that migrants constitute only a relatively small proportion of the South African population,” he said.
Citing South Africa’s 2022 Income and Expenditure Survey, he noted that the foreign-born population was estimated at about 3.1 million, or 5.1 per cent of the population, arguing that public discourse sometimes creates the impression that the country is “totally being overwhelmed by foreigners” when evidence showed otherwise.
The minister expressed concern over recent statements by some South African leaders, which he said portray entire categories of migrants as “drug lords, criminals, parasites, drug thieves, or threats to national survival.”
“When leaders describe entire categories of people in those terms, they create an environment in which violence can be socially permissible. Such rhetoric does not help situations such as this,” he warned.
Meanwhile, the South African Consulate in Lagos has dismissed reports that the mission has stopped issuing visas to Nigerians due to anti-migrant protests in South Africa.
The Consul General of South Africa, Prof. Bobby Moroe, made this known on the sidelines of a round-table organised by the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) with the theme “South Africa’s Xenophobia in Comparative Perspective”.
Moroe said applicants who met the requirements for visas to visit his country would never be denied.
“Visas continue to be issued in spite of the ongoing protests, and Nigerians are still visiting the country for tourism and other legitimate purposes. We wish to reiterate that Nigerians under these circumstances will never be discriminated against.
“No basis will justify why your visa is rejected except that you, for one reason or another, may not have qualified with the requirements of the visa,” he said.
In her statement posted on X, yesterday, Odumegwu-Ojukwu said that the new batch of 83 Nigerian nationals who arrived from South Africa last night was made possible through the intervention of public-spirited private individuals, group of business friends who collectively sponsored the air tickets of the returnees.
She noted that the returnees were Nigerian Nationals from Anambra, Ondo, Imo, Oyo, Enugu, Ogun, Abia, Osun, Delta, Kwara and Ekiti States.
The returnees were scheduled to depart Oliver Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg, at 3:35 p.m. local time and were expected to arrive Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, at approximately 8:45 p.m. yesterday.
According to her statement, the latest returnees add to the 1,490 Nigerians previously repatriated from South Africa under the government’s voluntary repatriation programme, undertaken amidst concerns over xenophobic attacks and anti-foreigner sentiments in South Africa, in the process of which some Nigerian Nationals lost their lives and many lost properties.
She urged state governments to complement the Federal Government’s efforts to ensure that no citizen at risk abroad was abandoned to an uncertain fate by assisting with evacuation or cushioning the difficult process of relocating and resettling their returning indigenes.
She applauded the Imo State Government for commencing the disbursement of N1 million each to returning indigenes and for approving the immediate disbursement of N1,000,000 each to 31 verified SA returnees of Abia State extraction, as well as the Enugu State government for its commitment to assisting in the evacuation of stranded indigenes.
