FG to repatriate over 1,000 Nigerians from South Africa
The federal government plans to repatriate over 1,000 Nigerians from South Africa as anti-immigrant tensions rise in the country, according to the foreign ministry spokesman Kimiebi Ebienfa.
The move by Abuja comes after Ghana recently repatriated hundreds of its citizens from South Africa in response to a wave of protests and violence targeting foreigners.
Ebienfa told AFP on Friday that screening for Nigeria’s voluntary repatriation scheme started Thursday.
“Total figure not out yet,” he said. “We are expecting over a 1,000 persons.”
In a statement dated 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 percent, it has seen repeated spurts of xenophobic protests — including renewed violence in recent weeks.
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.
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.
The South African government has said it is stepping up enforcement against undocumented immigrants but urged citizens not to take matters into their own hands.
