Another 400 Nigerians in South Africa have indicated interest in returning home, the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) has disclosed.
The commission’s director of Media, Abdulrahman Balogun made this disclosure when he led 32 Nigerian returnees of Oyo state origin to the state governor’s office, Ibadan, on Wednesday.
He, however, noted that the decision of those Nigerians to return home or stay back may be influenced by the outcome of the scheduled meeting between the Nigerian government led by President Muhammadu Buhari and the South African authorities.
“As of last night, over 400 Nigerians have equally indicated their interest to return home. We normally profile them at our embassy in South Africa to know those who voluntarily want to come back and 400 of them have indicated interest in coming back.
“The President travels to South Africa today (Wednesday) so the talks between Nigeria and South Africa will determine whether those Nigerians will return or not. Some of them may still change their minds. They may think that things have become normal and stay back.
“If after the discussion, South Africa is ready to make some concession, those Nigerians may decide to stay back,” Balogun said.
Speaking further, he noted that Nigerians also faced life-threatening situations in Saudi Arabia and some other Asian countries.
Preaching the “No place like home” message, Balogun cautioned Nigerians keen on leaving the country that the land abroad may not be greener as envisaged.
“The commission usually tells those who travel out to be good representative of the country. As we are having this batch, we have similar issues in Asia, Saudi Arabia in which we have a sizeable number of people from this state.
“I am currently working on one calling for our attention. We usually counsel our young people that there is nothing green in those places people are going to. You are better off here. With little assistance, you can do well rather than go somewhere and be killed, attacked and cannot move or do business freely. The younger ones should come
together for us to nurture the nation. We have better opportunities here in Nigeria,” Balogun added.
Receiving the Oyo state born indigenes, state deputy governor, Mr Rauf Olaniyan said the state government will carry out a profiling of the returnees to ascertain their specific area of needs and attend to them.
While gifting each of the state’s returnee the sum of N30,000, he advised them to be creative to identify and tap into investment and job opportunities in the state.
Also pointing to funding opportunities by the Bank of Industry (BOI), Olaniyan urged the returnees to come up with business proposals to further their areas of specialization.
Some of the returnees to include, Olakojo Sotunde, Okeleye Oluwaseun, Lawal Bolatito said they looked up to government for startup capital and jobs.
Speaking, Olakojo said, “I will like the government to assist us in any way they can. We need jobs. I am a graduate of History and International Relations from LASU. Back in South Africa, I had a registered business and was doing well until all of a sudden xenophobia started.
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“I have two cars at the car lot that I wanted to sell because I had the intention to come back home no matter what. I came home two times last year but when I came, there was really nothing, so I had to go back.
“I was contemplating on staying back in South Africa or coming back to Nigeria. Lo and behold, xenophobia started last month and the whole story changed. I will like the government to assist us in any way they can. There are some of us that need jobs. Some other people are
business owners. If you can get us jobs, can set us up in businesses, we will be glad.”
On his own part, Okeleye said, “It was ups and downs for me in South Africa. I studied Agriculture and sought a country that was practiced mechanized farming hence the reason I went to South Africa. We need help. I now have to start again from the scratch. The federal
government should interview us per person and know what we want.
“In South Africa, I see people attacked. Most of their drivers have guns. They see Nigerians as intelligent, smart and envy us; they feel we bully then. Nigerians are everywhere in South Africa, especially in the medical sector. They suffer inferiority complex.”
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