Nigerians living in South Africa, are not in good shape, presently. In the last few weeks, they have borne the brunt of intimidation, harassment and outright molestation from fringe members of their host country. The latest outbreak of violence against them which began on Monday, April 20, has seen mobs target shops, vandalise property and unleash mayhem on African immigrants. Several Nigerians are said to have lost goods worth millions of naira in the confusion.
The desperate call for intervention by the Nigerian Citizens Association in South Africa (NICASA) confirmed the extent of stress they are going through. In it, the NICASA President, Frank Onyekwelu, expressed concern over reported cases of targeted harassment and alleged police brutality against Nigerians and other Africans in South Africa.
The upsurge in assault comes barely a month after protests erupted in East London, South Africa, over the coronation of a traditional leader by some Nigerians in the locality. The demonstrations which trailed the exercise later turned violent, resulting in looting, property damage and injuries. Unfortunately, South Africa’s President, Cyril Ramaphosa has not taken any strong measure to stem the attacks or rein in the loose gangs. Of course, he may not, given what seems the tacit support of his government to the rascality of his misguided compatriots. From the Nigerian end, President Bola Tinubu has not taken visible actions to demonstrate his concern at the plight of the flustered citizens.
Make no mistake about it; this is not the first time Nigerians would be maltreated in South Africa. Similar bloody attacks had happened in 2012, 2015, 2017 and 2019, when dozens of Nigerians in the country were attacked, their shops burnt, and many forced to return home under emergency evacuation arrangements by the federal government. Because not much was known to have been done by the authorities in South Africa and Nigeria over the barbaric trend, the perpetrators had gone unchallenged.
Statistics had in fact, indicated that between 2015 and 2017, 116 Nigerians were killed in South Africa through extrajudicial means. Curiously, seven in 10 of the killings were carried out by the Police. In obvious bid to cover up, the authorities in South Africa, had thrown up allegations against Nigerians murdered in controversial instances in the country. However, the fact remains that most of the attacks bordered on greed and pettiness by lazy elements of the host society who could not stand the reality of hard-working Nigerians making it in their country. Since the criminals are not being called to order, the temptation becomes strong to assume that South Africa sanctions the attacks or lacks the will to curb the excesses of loose characters among its citizens.
Whichever way it is seen, this is cruelty taken too far. To think that such regime of animosity could be unleashed on Nigerians by the very South Africans that their country literally opened its vault for and sacrificed its men to ensure their liberation from white minority rule, tells much on perfidy and ingratitude.
When it mattered most for South Africa, Nigeria had lent a helping hand. In fact, at the height of the decolonization struggle in the Southern Africa and particularly, the fight against the obnoxious Apartheid system in South Africa, Nigeria threw its men and women into the ring to give voice to the oppressed black majority in the country. Even when leading Western countries at the time, especially, America and Britain saw nothing wrong in the atrocious white minority regime in the country, Nigeria rallied other countries in Africa and beyond to ensure justice in South Africa.
In standing up for the country, Nigeria took some dire economic actions against countries seen to be backing the rogue regime in Pretoria. It was in the process that the then Barclays Bank was nationalized and renamed Union Bank, to hit Britain for supporting apartheid. Standard Bank became First Bank, while Shell British Petroleum (BP), was nationalized and renamed African Petroleum (AP). Nigeria also hit at America by rallying other African countries to support the Russian-backed Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) against the US-backed National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), in the march for Angolan independence. MPLA eventually led Angola to independence in 1975, in an exercise that was seen as a major diplomatic victory by Nigeria against America.
Elsewhere, student bodies were encouraged in Nigerian Universities and other institutions of higher learning to add voice to the agitation against apartheid. Musicians were not left out. The late Sunny Okosuns, earned fame and followership among Nigerians for his trenchant songs against the obnoxious regime in South Africa. These were in addition to various layers of aid and diplomatic support from the country to the freedom fighters in South Africa.
Now, look at where Nigeria is placed, in its relations with South Africa. Aside the routine maltreatment of Nigerians in the country by way of humiliating deportation, unprovoked attacks at their residences and business premises and extra-judicial murder, nothing much can be headlined in the attitude of South Africa to Nigeria.
But who do we really blame in the turn of events? Whether we take it or leave it, no country can treat a citizen better than his or her home country. The reality of international politics, is that the treatment citizens receive from a host nation, is a reflection of the treatment they get in their country of origin. When a country places high premium on its nationals, no other state treats them in lesser degree. That is why it is rare for any State to manhandle citizens of America, Israel, Germany, Britain or other countries that truly bother about what happens to their nationals. Such unusual instances if they do happen, also attract appropriate reprisals.
But for Nigerians at home and abroad, that is not the case. The leaders rather take joy in dismissing the citizens as corrupt and criminally minded, even when there are no evidences to substantiate the blanket ascription. It was here in Nigeria that the Chairman/CEO of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa, profiled Nigerians from the South Eastern section of the country over engagement in hard drug. It was also here that President Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Media, Bayo Onanuga and other bigoted minds engineered attacks against the Igbo in Lagos for nothing reasonable, except envy at their trademark enterprise and never-say-die spirit. In Onanuga’s thinking, a good Igbo man, is a dead one. It was such fatal mindset that was unleashed on Akere Auto Spare Parts Market, dominated by Igbo traders, which went up in flames few days to the March 2023 governorship election in Lagos. No arrest was made on the incident.
Elsewhere, Nigerians living in areas outside their regions of birth, have been subjected to harrowing experiences that call to question the essence of our unity and nationhood. When such bizarre treatments are meted to fellow citizens and the government looks the other way, crooked authorities and fleeting minds in other countries take note and act accordingly. The xenophobic attacks on Nigerians in South Africa can also be seen from that perspective.
