Nigeria may be forced to consider striking back after a wave of anti-Nigerian violence in South Africa has pushed some citizens to seek evacuation, the Federal Government has announced.
According to officials, flights that were meant to begin returning Nigerians on Monday, June 8, have been pushed back due to joint document checks and screening processes being carried out with South African authorities.
The verification effort, which started last Thursday and involved more than 1,000 Nigerians, was expected to wrap up on Saturday, June 13, ahead of the planned Monday departures. But addressing reporters at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, Foreign Affairs Minister Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu said final preparations were still underway for those who have chosen to come home.
When asked whether Nigeria might respond by cutting certain privileges for South Africans living in Nigeria, the ambassador left the door open. “Well, that is a situation that we are considering. This is up to our legislature. This is a decision that has to be taken at the highest level of government.
“But it’s not off the table. Nigeria is not happy because Nigeria has sacrificed much for the South African struggle for independence. Nigeria sacrificed quite a lot, committed funds, committed resources to aid South Africa. In schools, seats were reserved for South African students. My own generation carried placards; we demonstrated in front of South African assets.
“Sometimes we even got arrested for doing this. Nigeria is a serious frontline state, and Nigerians are not happy about how they have been treated. They are not asking other migrants to leave; they’re only asking black migrants to leave.”
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