#XenophobiaInSouthAfrica: No Nigerian was killed in South Africa ― Onyeama

Even as the special envoy dispatched to South Africa is yet to return to the country, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Geoffrey Onyeama has said no Nigerian was killed in the raging xenophobic attacks in South Africa.

He made the declaration on Friday in Abuja after he had a closed-door meeting with Senator Isa Bulkachuwa, Chairman Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and his counterpart who chairs the Committee on Diaspora, Senator Surajudeen Ajibola Bashiru.

Ambassador Onyeama told newsmen that his visit to the National Assembly was to engage the lawmakers in fruitful discussion towards articulating a road map to tackle the ongoing unsavoury development in the former apartheid enclave.

He said:” Yes we just met with the Senate committee to review the situation with regards to South Africa and we looked at all the possible options we analysed the possible causes and agreed on a road map going forward.

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“Part of that road map on the executive side was that Mr President has dispatched a special envoy to South Africa who would be holding discussion with the South African government at the very highest level.

“He should be back tomorrow, that will now give the government the basis for further action. In the meantime, the government is very much on top of the situation.

“We know for a fact that no Nigerian life has been lost so we are extremely concerned now to ensure that there will be adequate compensation for property that has been damaged.

We know that a Nigerian Airline is putting a plane at the disposal of most Nigerians that wish to take the opportunity to leave South Africa, this is purely voluntary, but we are particularly determined to particularly make sure that this crisis does not reoccur.

” It has been happening for far too long, it’s becoming almost endemic, so the distinguished senators, are helping with some of the options that we may have to ensure that this will be the last time we will ever be meeting to talking about Nigerians attacked in South Africa and to take definitive measures.

“To start doing that, we want to have all the facts available and then we will take the necessary measures.”

Asked by journalists how he came to the conclusion that no Nigerian has so far been killed in South Africa when the special envoy was yet to return to the country, Ambassador Onyeama said he premised his judgement on reports given by the Nigerian community in South Africa.

He also insisted that Nigeria would be pressing for compensation despite the insistence of the South African government that such demands were a tall dream.

“No, the envoy is not going there to fact-check because we have people on the ground. We have our envoy. We have a Consul General there, those who are engaging with the Nigerian Union in South Africa. So the fact is coming out from them on the ground.

“We have a Nigerian union in South Africa and they are pretty much in touch with Nigerians who are living in South Africa and that all the facts available indicate that no Nigerian life was lost.

” The Nigerian government will be demanding that the victims should be compensated. This is important because the South African governments are saying that there is no provision for them legally to provide compensation That they will have to resort to other insurance companies or other private arrangements.

“We are going to challenge that because we believe in the past no compensation was paid. As for us, it is something we feel that we have to insist upon. ”

In his remarks, Senator Bashiru said the meeting was at the instance of the Senate to be formally briefed by the Foreign Affairs Ministry on the steps being taken to guarantee the safety of lives of Nigerians and the proactive measures to be taken to ensure that  such attacks were curtailed in the future

“As a committee on diaspora, Civil society and Non-governmental organisations, we actually called this meeting with the Minister for Foreign Affairs and his team to brief the committee on behalf of the Nigerian Senate as to the incidence in South Africa and what has been transporting and the steps being taken.

“We are happy that in the light of the cooperative mood of governance under the 9th Senate under the leadership of the President of the Senate Ahmad  Lawan.

“We were briefed as to the background on the Xenophobic attacks in the past, and the action that was taken in the past and the solutions to these attacks. We were also given an assessment of what has transpired in the recent attack and one of the highlights was the assessment on the extent of damage to lives and property and we were assured that based on credible information from South Africa the mission there, that no Nigerian life has been lost though there were damages to property and that there is already an ongoing effort to assess the extent of the damage to that property with a view to making a clear demand on the South African Government to give compensation for the damaged properties.

“The basis of that is that as a matter of duty under international law the State has the responsibility to ensure the protection of lives and property under its domain whether they are foreigners or its citizens and that is the demand that we have been assured the Nigerian Government is going to make in this regard. Fundamentally, the strategy that’s being adopted by the Nigerian Government through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as we have been briefed is that we must have a permanent solution to the issue of Xenophobic attacks. It should not be an endemic issue, things that happen within a spate of 24 months in between.”