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28
Thu, Mar

Xenophobia: Nigerian Envoy, DG NIA Meet Ramaphosa Today

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President Buhari special envoy, the Director-General of National Intelligence Agency, Ambassador Ahmed Abubakar, has arrived Johannesburg to meet President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa.

 

The DG NIA was received yesterday at the Oliver Tambo International Airport by, Ambassador Kabir Bala, the Nigerian High Commission to South Africa with other mission officials.

 

The High commissioner who was alleged to have been recalled is expected to join the envoy and report back to Nigeria over the weekend.

 

Accordingly, Nigeria and South Africa have disagreed over compensation for victims of the anti-foreigner violence.

 

Mr. Geofrey Onyeama the Nigerian Minister for Foreign Affairs had informed the pressmen during an interview before he left on Wednesday that the Nigerian government was going to fight for full compensation.

 

However, his South African counterpart Naledi Pandor was quoted by the Reuters news agency saying that her country’s laws do not have provision for compensation for the dead victims.

 

Pandor disclosed that the South African government had decided to temporarily suspend all activities at the embassy in Nigeria after a threat of planned violence and protest march were received.

 

She, however, said she was in touch with Nigerian authorities to restore calm.

 

In her statement, “There is an Afrophobia we are sensing that exists, there is resentment and we need to address that.

 

However, the Nigerian Government insisted yesterday that victims of xenophobic attacks must be compensated.

 

Meanwhile, Mr Onyeama in his statement said “Our citizens there have suffered loss and it is the responsibility of this government to ensure that they are compensated and we will take measures necessary and do whatever we have to do to ensure that they are compensated,” adding that “We are not aware that the South African government has closed down its High Commission here in Abuja or its consulate in Lagos.”

 

On attendance at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Cape Town, South Africa by some Nigerians, despite Nigeria pulling out of the forum, he said those Nigerians had gone there before the decision was taken.

 

“The first thing you have to realize is that the World Economic Forum is not a South African government initiative. It is a Swiss-based mechanism and it takes place in different places. “It is not a question of disobedience because they were actually there already before this decision was taken,” he said.

 

Meanwhile, on the recall of Nigerian High Commissioner to South Africa, Onyeama said they have not taken a final decision yet.

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