Xenophobia: FG To Repatriate Over 1,000 Nigerians From South Africa

THE Federal Government has commenced plans to repatriate over 1,000 Nigerians citizens from South Africa as concerns mount over rising anti-immigrant sentiments and renewed xenophobia in the country.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed on Friday, June 5, that screening for a voluntary repatriation programme began on Thursday, with authorities expecting over 1,000 Nigerians to participate.
The ministry’s spokesman, Kimiebi Ebienfa, said the final number of those seeking to return home had not yet been determined, but the figure was expected to exceed 1,000.
The exercise is coming after a similar action by Ghana, which recently repatriated hundreds of its nationals from South Africa, amid increasing fears over protests and violence directed at foreign nationals.
Last month, Ghana repatriated some 300 people, the first batch of what authorities said was expected to be a total of about 800 Ghanaian nationals.
In a statement on Tuesday, Nigeria’s High Commission in Pretoria said it had “negotiated waivers with host authorities,” so that those with “immigration-related offences” would be allowed to leave on the eventual repatriation flights, rather than be detained.
South Africa, until recently the continent’s most industrialised economy, has long attracted workers from across the region. But saddled with an unemployment rate of over 30 per cent, it has seen repeated spurts of xenophobic protests, including renewed violence in recent weeks against fellow blacks from the continent.
The latest tensions have revived uncomfortable debates across Africa about xenophobia, migration and the gap between pan-African rhetoric and realities facing migration on the continent.
An ultimatum by one citizen-led group for illegal migrants to be expelled by June 30 has raised fears of violence after bouts of anti-immigrant unrest in the past that claimed dozens of lives.
The South African government has said it was stepping up enforcement against undocumented immigrants but urged citizens not to take matters into their own hands.
There are over three million foreigners living in South Africa, or 5.1 per cent of the population, according to the statistics agency, with over 63 per cent of them from countries in the 16-member Southern African Development Community (SADC) bloc.