Nigeria meets South Africa over xenophobic attacks

Nigeria’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Sola Enikanolaiye, is meeting with South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Mr Ronald Lamola, amid growing concerns over recurring xenophobic attacks against Nigerians in the Southern African country.

Enikanolaiye said President Bola Tinubu directed the meeting to address the persistent attacks against Nigerians in South Africa openly.

He called on the South African government to take urgent and concrete steps to end what Nigeria described as recurring Afrophobic attacks against Nigerians and other African nationals.

The minister cautioned that the violence threatens decades of strategic partnership between Africa’s two largest economies.

Enikanolaiye recalled Nigeria’s support for South Africa’s liberation from apartheid and the close collaboration between both countries in transforming the Organisation of African Unity into the African Union, as well as advancing the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, NEPAD.

He expressed concern over what he described as a recurring pattern of xenophobic violence dating back to 1995, with subsequent outbreaks recorded in 1998, 2006, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024 and 2026.

Recall that the Federal Government of Nigeria has evaluated a total of 1,490 of its citizens from South Africa following the renewed xenophobic attacks.

Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu recently declined to receive a special envoy dispatched by South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa.