Nigeria’s Overseas Minister Bianca Odumegwu Ojukwu mentioned at the very least 130 Nigerians in South Africa are asking to be flown dwelling following protests focusing on foreigners.
The candidates are the primary to use for a brand new Nigerian government-backed repatriation scheme, a minister mentioned on Sunday, amid fears of an escalation within the battle in South Africa.
Protesters held rallies in Pretoria and Johannesburg final week to demand more durable measures towards unlawful immigrants, saying they put strain on jobs, safety and public companies. Immigrant rights teams say foreigners are sometimes the scapegoat for South Africa’s financial issues.
Overseas Ministry spokesperson Kimyebi Imomotimi Ebienfa mentioned on Monday that Nigeria condemns violence towards its nationals in South Africa, together with the deaths of two Nigerians who had been allegedly assaulted by safety officers.
“Nigeria seeks full cooperation in offering post-mortem reviews, autopsy paperwork, related dockets, and facilitating entry to authorized procedures for households of the deceased,” Ebienfa mentioned, including that legal responsibility ought to embrace “acceptable disciplinary and prosecutorial motion” if wrongdoing is discovered.
South Africa final month pledged to crack down on those that perform xenophobic assaults, after Ghana and different African nations reported their residents going through violence and discrimination.
Additional protests are deliberate for Could 4 and Could 8, and Nigeria will monitor developments intently, the federal government mentioned.
The international minister mentioned he had already summoned the South African Excessive Commissioner in Abuja over the state of affairs and that South Africa’s diplomatic missions overseas had been working with native authorities to scale back the danger to Nigerians.
