Nigeria is demanding justice and compensation from South Africa for Nigerians killed, properties looted, businesses destroyed, and for many forced to return home empty-handed.
It also insisted that Nigeria was not helpless in responding to the attacks, saying diplomacy remained its preferred option, although “all options” were still open.
The government said no fewer than 98 Nigerians were killed in xenophobic and Afrophobic attacks in South Africa within the last four years.
Minister of State for Foreign AffairAs, Sola Enikanolaiye, met with President Cyril Ramaphosa’s special envoy and Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ronald Lamola, in Abuja on Monday to express the Nigerian government’s displeasure over the treatment meted out to its citizens.
ALSO READ: Xenophobia: Nigeria, Ghana collaborate to tackle S’Africa
“We have seen a pattern that has become a concern to the Nigerian government,” Enikanolaiye said, citing outbreaks of anti-migrant violence dating back to 1995, with official records indicating that 98 Nigerians have been killed in mob and hate-related attacks in the Rainbow Nation since 2022.
“We made it very clear. And he (the special envoy) agreed with us,” Enikanolaiye said.
Enikanolaiye said: “You can’t even make a claim unless you know exactly the volume and distribution of those who are making those claims.
“South Africans are a little bit edgy about compensation, and I remember it was a major contentious issue when we were negotiating the Early Warning Mechanism.
It said a comprehensive compilation of losses suffered by thousands of Nigerians residing in that country was being undertaken with the intention of presenting claims to the South African government, which, it alleged, looked the other way while rampaging mobs carried out the attacks.
In some instances, security agents directly killed Nigerians or acquiesced while the heinous acts were being perpetrated.
More than 1,400 Nigerians forced to flee were flown back from the former apartheid enclave.
The attacks were not limited to Nigerians and Ghanaians. Many citizens of Southern African countries, including Malawi, Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, were also attacked.
