Killing of Nigerians in South Africa will no longer be tolerated – Dabiri-Erewa

CEO of the Nigerians in the Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has warned that the incessant and unjustifiable killing of Nigerians in South Africa will no longer be tolerated, as Nigerians are already running out of patience with the increasing scourge.

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Dabiri-Erewa gave this warning on Wednesday while briefing newsmen over the increasing xenophobic attacks against Nigerians in the former Apartheid enclave, saying, “We are reaching a tipping point where one more death of a Nigerian in South Africa will be unbearable to Nigerians.  Nigerians are all angry that anymore killing of any Nigerian in South Africa will not be tolerated.”

She disclosed that up till about 2016, about 118 Nigerians were killed in South Africa adding that between 2016 till death 88 Nigerians have been killed in the country. She called for a through investigation into the killings and to bring the perpetrators to book.

The NIDCOM boss however, lamented that   some Nigerians have contributed to the attacks, as some of the recent killings have been Nigerians killing other Nigerians in the country. Abike also called for more investigation on the killing of a top Nigerian government official, Elizabeth Ndubuisi Chukwu, whose death in South Africa is still shrouded in controversy.

She, however, assured that high-level diplomatic efforts between the Nigerian government and the government of South Africa were ongoing to resolve the matter, saying, “We can still make diplomacy work.”

Also speaking during the conference, a popular Nigerian Big Brother Africa star, who had a nasty experience with the xenophobic attacks in South Africa, especially with South Africa police officers, Tayo  Faniran, decried his bitter experience in the country but promised  to work with stakeholders to end the scourge, adding that not all South Africans support the killings.
He said that lack of information is the cause of xenophobia as many of the South Africans feel they are entitled to hate Nigerians. He added that with adequate support and cooperation xenophobia can be eradicated.

Speaking during the conference, president of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Danielson Akpan Bamidele, decried the killings in South Africa, saying, “It has attained an alarming dimension.”

In this speech entitled “South Africans must go, Nigerians in South Africa should return to Nigeria,” Bamidele noted that the Nigeria had provided South Africa with enormous opportunities to build businesses in Nigeria, where they have made bountiful profits only to allegedly pay Nigeria back with killing of Nigerian citizens in the country. He noted that the Nigerian students would not sit idly by and watch the dastardly act of violence continue.

He noted that the NANS had drawn the attention of the South African government to these attacks through picketing of some South African companies in Nigeria but that appeared not to have moved the South African government to address the matter.

The NANS leader had announced   that since “diplomacy has failed” the group had slammed an ultimatum of 7 days to South Africans in Nigeria to leave the country and Nigerians living in South Africa should return to the country. NANS had also announced that South African owned telecom firm, MTN, Multichoice, Shoprite, Stanbic IBTC, and a host of others, should also quit Nigeria within the seven-day ultimatum.

He was however, prevailed upon by the NIDCOM boss to shelve the idea as diplomacy can still provide the solution to the problem instead of shutting down South African businesses in Nigeria, which might escalate the problem.

Contributing, Tijjani Yusuf, a professor of Diaspora Studies, said Nigeria must engage South African educational and cultural institutions as it appeared that the new generation of South Africans lack knowledge of what Nigeria did in the decolonisation of South Africa during the Apartheid era.

He added that the South African youths need a new orientation to remove the xenophobic psyche from them. He noted that the commission would continue to engage the South African government on the best way to resolve the matter.