FG: Nigerians Willing to Return from South Africa will Leave Before June 30

Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, minister of foreign affairs, has assured Nigerians living in South Africa that no citizen willing to return home will be abandoned as a June 30 deadline set by anti-migrant groups for undocumented foreigners to leave the country draws near.

The first batch of 258 repatriated Nigerian nationals arrived in Lagos last Thursday.

A second batch was expected on Monday but was later postponed. Four more repatriation flights are scheduled.

In a statement issued by Magnus Eze, the minister’s special assistant on communication and new media, Odumegwu-Ojukwu said President Bola Tinubu has issued a directive mandating that every Nigerian who has voluntarily indicated willingness to return home must leave before the deadline.

About 1,000 Nigerians have expressed interest in returning, according to the minister.

Odumegwu-Ojukwu said Nigeria is actively engaging South African authorities through diplomatic channels and broader actions.

She, however, noted that the national assembly has a constitutional role to play in determining Nigeria’s response should diplomatic engagements fail to halt the attacks on Nigerians and their businesses.

“When it comes to situations like this, of course, it is necessary to be temperate and exercise caution. But when your citizens are being harassed, when your citizens are people who have spent years there, and mind you, some of them are married to South Africans and have children who have known no other home but South Africa, then it becomes a serious concern,” the minister was quoted as saying.

“Now, under these circumstances, they are asking not just Nigerians, but also their South African spouses and their children, to leave South Africa.

“As I indicated before, there are these huge conglomerates. By the way, there are over 120 South African companies operating in Nigeria.

“Nobody is asking them to provide proof of identity. Nobody is asking South African staff working there whether they are South Africans or Nigerians, and nobody is taking over their shops or businesses.

“But this is happening to Nigerians in South Africa. So, I think that at some point, we really have to review the options available to us.

“We have MTN, MultiChoice, Stanbic, Protea and many other South African brands spanning multiple sectors.”

‘XENOPHOBIC ATTACKS CAUSING SOUTH AFRICA REPUTATIONAL DAMAGE’

Odumegwu-Ojukwu added that the xenophobic violence in South Africa “is causing reputational damage, and that is quite sad because the late Madiba, Nelson Mandela – God rest his soul – worked so hard to project South Africa as the bastion of Pan-Africanism”.

“And in one fell swoop, these anti-migrant vigilante groups have destroyed what this man sacrificed 28 years in prison for. So, it is causing reputational damage,” she said.

“Even within South Africa itself, people are cancelling concerts, and conferences are being called off.

“South Africa has been stained with the stigma of being a xenophobic country. This is not something I think they will be comfortable with in the long run.”

Odumegwu-Ojukwu said South African authorities discarded an MoU signed with Nigeria on early warning mechanism last October.

The pact was signed to protect the lives and property of both Nigerians and South Africans in times of conflict.

She said South African authorities pushed back, claiming that those who signed for them were not the requisite signatories to make it valid, and that there were other formalities and processes that needed to be conducted.