The effects of the Xenophobic attacks on Nigerians, other African nationals and their interests in South Africa widened across the continent Wednesday, threatening its fragile bonding, trade and business relationships.
African intra-country trade is at about 15 percent of the total compared with 20 percent in Latin America and 58 percent in Asia, according to the African Export-Import (AFREXIM) Bank.
AFREXIM said in a report last year that this could more than double within the first decade after implementing the African Continental Free-Trade Agreement or ACfTA, which Nigeria signed up to at an extraordinary summit of the African Union in Niamey in July.
However countries whose nationals have been hounded in South African cities by irate mobs this week responded in various measures, ranging from a cancelled football event with South Africa (Zambia), to boycott of the World Economic Forum that began in Johannesburg yesterday (Nigeria and others), and a threat to recall an envoy from South Africa – Nigeria.
Other African countries whose leaders have decided not to show up at WEF include Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Malawi.
Also, the Nigerian government has issued travel advisory to travelers, advising Nigerians to avoid travelling to high risk and volatile areas in South Africa until the situation is brought under control.
A press release issued by Ferdinard Nwonye, spokesperson, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Abuja, stated that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would continue to protect the lives and properties of Nigerians in South Africa.
“The Federal Government commends the arrest of some perpetrators in the dastardly act by the South African Police and call on a timely prosecution to serve as deterrence to others,” the statement said.
In Nigeria, the country with the greatest stake in the tragic events, given the large number of its citizens involved, there was a flurry of government activities at the seat of power, Abuja, with the government digging deep into its diplomatic tool bag for an appropriate response.
Among the actions mulled by the Federal Government was that Nigeria, with the largest population in Africa and the continent’s biggest economy, was pulling out of the World Economic Forum meeting where Vice President Yemi Osinbajo was scheduled to represent the country in South Africa on Thursday.
Nigeria also said it would recall its envoy to South Africa, which would send a strong signal to Pretoria that Nigeria would no longer broach such a mindless attack on its national.
“The President is particularly distraught at the act of vandalism that has taken place here in Nigeria, in retaliation of what is happening in South Africa,” Geoffrey Onyeama, Nigeria’s foreign affairs minister, said.
In response to the attacks on Nigerians in far-away South Africa, some Nigerians at home embarked on retaliatory attacks, venting their anger on South African organisations operating in Nigeria. As the attacks on their facilities, customers and some of their stakeholders that started on Tuesday night continued on Wednesday and spread to Nigeria’s major cities, these companies – MTN, MultiChoice and Shoprite took pre-cautionary steps and temporarily shut down physical shops, and restricted customer service activities to online and telephone channels.
MTN Nigeria’s offices in Kano, Lagos, Port Harcourt, Uyo, Ibadan, Benin, Awka and other cities have been shut.
In a public statement, MTN Nigeria stated that; “while we remain committed to providing uninterrupted services, the safety and security of our customers, staff and partners is our primary concern. All MTN stores and service centres will therefore be closed as a precaution until further notice.”
MTN Nigeria’s CEO Ferdi Moolman said the company “strongly condemns hate, prejudice and xenophobia and reiterate our unequivocal condemnation of all violence. We seek to connect people, bring people together and provide a platform for everyone’s voice to be heard. We are against all forms of bigotry and discrimination; they should have no place in society.”
In a statement signed by Uto Ukpanah, company secretary, MTN, says it is engaging all relevant authorities in this regard and urges them to act swiftly to reduce tensions both in South Africa and Nigeria.
BusinessDay learnt that MultiChoice and Shoprite have also declared holidays for its staff in cities across Nigeria. Reports also indicate that Stanbic IBTC Bank offices in Port Harcourt were shut. Other businesses reportedly shut down include PEP Stores and DSTV in GRA 2.
The timely intervention of security operatives in the early hours of Wednesday saved attempts by irate youths to attack Shoprite in Onitsha, the commercial hub of Anambra State in eastern Nigeria.
MTN offices in the state, particularly in Awka, the state capital, were shut for business activities in the day, according to reports.
An MTN staff in Awka under condition of anonymity told BusinessDay that junior staffs were directed to operate from their homes to avoid any negative occurrence. “We were told on Tuesday that only the senior staffs were expected in office, while we wait for further directives,” he said.
MTN offices across Edo State, in Midwestern Nigeria, were shut down to forestall further attacks on the company, BusinessDay however, learnt that DSTV offices in the area opened for business.
Stakeholders say that the companies took the right steps to ensure the safety of their staff, who are predominantly Nigerian.
“It is very unfortunate that the xenophobic incident in South Africa has led to the shutdown of telecommunications service centres belonging to MTN in Nigeria. However, it is a good decision to ensure that there is no escalation of this situation. Currently, there is no negative impact on calls and services and we are encouraged that the Nigerian government intervened to condemn the attacks,” Olusola Teniola, president, Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) told BusinessDay in a telephone interview.
While it tried to fashion an appropriate response to the attacks, the Nigerian government called on its citizens at home to refrain from attacking South African interest in the country, declaring, rather, that it wants to “”take the moral high ground on this matter,” according to Onyeama.
“Mr President has pleaded and he is likely to make a statement on this, addressing the Nigerian people to please desist from acts of vandalism and aggression, destroying properties,” he said.
The foreign affairs minister pointed out that while these businesses- Shoprite, MTN and others, were of South African origin, they were subsidiaries in Nigeria owned by Nigerians. Therefore, attacks on them were actually the property owned by Nigerians within Nigeria and the Nigerian who work there, he reasoned.
There are more than 50 different South African firms operating in Nigeria, and if they are held responsible for a sin they did not commit, or maybe otherwise forced to close shop, the effect would be more devastating than imagined on Nigeria, especially at a time when unemployment figures keep soaring.
Some of South Africa’s leading companies in Nigeria include MTN, currently the biggest capitalised company on the Nigerian Stock Exchange, Power Giant, Eskom Nigeria, South African Airways, South African Breweries (SAB Miller), MultiChoice, and Umgeni Water.
Others include Refresh Products, PEP Retail Stores, Shoprite, LTA Construction, Protea Hotels, Critical Rescue International, South African-Nigeria Communications, Global Outdoor Semces, etc.
An analysis of Nigerians under their employ shows that MTN has about 18,931 globally, and MTN Nigeria has the largest part in this figure.
Eskom Nigeria has about 47,658 globally, and Nigeria is one of the biggest market and has between 10,000 and 15,000 Nigerians in its employment.
South African Airways has about 10,500 workers globally, and Nigeria being its major market in sub-Saharan Africa, has about 2,000 of its nationals under its employ. Also, SAB Miller has about 70,000 employees globally, 9,400 in South Africa and about 7,000+ in Nigeria.
On the other hand, MultiChoice has about 6,963 Nigerians as employees, and Umgeni Water about 1,046 Nigerians working with it. Shoprite has 44,000 staffs globally, 23,500 work outside South Africa, and majority of this in Nigeria.
Onyeama also assured Nigerians that President Buhari would any moment make a broadcast to Nigerians, based on the reports to be presented by the Special Envoy who will be in South Africa on Thursday and who is expected back before weekend.
“We have made it clear that what has happened in South Africa is totally unacceptable. We will not accept it and as I said earlier, enough is enough and we are not going to come back to this, we are going to address it once and for all,” Onyeama said, and added that reports from the South African government indicated that no Nigerian died from the attacks.
The organised labour in Nigeria called on the Federal Government to adopt stringent diplomatic measures in talks with the South African government to put an end to the assault.
In separate statements issued Wednesday, the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), not only condemned the killing and harassment of Nigerians by South Africans, including their police, but also insisted that the South African government be held responsible for allowing the attacks to fester.
The statements signed by Quadri Olaleye, president of the TUC, and Ayuba Wabba, president of the NLC, regretted the failure of the South African government to recognise the sacrifices that Nigeria and Nigerians had to make to end the suppressive apartheid policy in that country.
“The nonchalant attitude displayed by the leadership and people of South Africa suggests that they have forgotten the sacrifice Nigeria and other African countries made to achieve their freedom from apartheid.
It is high time the Nigerian government adopted stringent diplomatic measures. And we also urge other African countries to follow suit. As union, it is our belief that the South African government is guilty of the dastardly act by association,” Olaleye said.
Similarly, Wabba, from the NLC, described the attacks and killings as unacceptable. According to the NLC, the frequency and escalation of these attacks are capable of undermining the illustrious bilateral relations between the government and people of Nigeria and government and people of South Africa.
“We hold the South African government responsible for failing in its duty to protect or safeguard the lives and properties of foreign nationals, especially Nigerians who have been subject of attacks over time.
Accordingly, we demand an immediate end to these killings and destruction of property. We demand for appropriate compensation and an assurance that this will never happen again not only to Nigerians but all foreign nationals in South Africa,” the NLC said.
The union, however, advised against crude retaliatory measures such as the burning down of perceived South African businesses in Nigeria as Nigerians stand to equally lose in the process.
Onyeama said through his official twitter handle that he has made “concrete proposals in respect of compensation and a viable security mechanism to protect Nigerians, for South African Government’s urgent consideration.”
Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Wednesday condemned the reprisal attacks on South African businesses in Nigeria, saying that Lagos would not condone violence of any form on residents and businesses in the state.
“As a Government, we condemn the violence visited on innocent people by the hoodlums who attacked Shoprite and other business interests owned by South Africans in Lagos. We cannot attempt to find a solution to a criminality by committing criminality. This is not part of our values as Nigerians. We will not condone any act that can lead to breakdown of law and order,” he said.
Joshua Bassey & Jumoke Akiyode-Lawanson, Ifeoma Okeke, Lagos, Idris Umar Momoh & Churchil Okoro, Benin City, Ignatius Chukwu, Port Harcourt, Emmanuel Ndukuba, Awka
