_BY CHUBI EZE_
As the COVID-19 pandemic spread like wildfire around the world, leaders
of several nations instituted emergency efforts to repatriate their
citizens from foreign shores. For Nigerians in foreign lands, accustomed
to the usual incompetence of their officials, there was a sliver of
optimism that the Nigerian government would finally change its ways and
respond to the pandemic in a professional manner.
For Nigerians in South Africa harbouring such hopes, it’s been a case
of deja vu, they have not only been faced with a familiar feeling of
disappointment but an evolving nightmare in a country where xenophobic
tensions are still rife. They have been thrown out of their hotels, had
to seek refuge from strangers and are close to penury.
After South African Airways abruptly cancelled all return tickets for
Nigerians and other nationals in South Africa under a
government-mandated lockdown, there was no way out of the country except
on repatriation flights. However, while other African countries,
including Angola and even cash-strapped Zimbabwe have been evacuating
their citizens from South Africa, the official response from Nigerian
government officials in South Africa is that they are unable to assist
Nigerian citizens and have no authorization from the Geoffrey
Onyeama-led Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Rather, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ sole focus seems to have been
in poorly-handled repatriation flights from more visible countries such
as the United States, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates,
in efforts that basically seem like window dressing.
In the same period while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the
Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), have remained unresponsive to
their citizens stranded in South Africa, Geoffrey Onyeama has penned
op-eds in the Nigerian news media while NIDCOM’s chief Abike Dabiri,
usually, a tireless self-promoter has maintained a deafening silence.
Nigeria is a country of two-hundred million, with a huge diaspora
population that remits $23 billion to its economy, a sum that is half of
$46 billion the entire continent receives in remittances, so one would
expect that its government through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would
do a better job of assisting its citizens in a crisis situation.
However, since the COVID-19 pandemic started, Nigeria has organized very
few repatriation flights while countries like South Africa have
conducted over thirty flights to repatriate its nationals from places as
far-flung as Brazil, Vietnam, Argentina, Russia and Australia.
In despair, some Nigerians have resorted to panhandling on social media
even going as far as asking South African government officials to
facilitate their return to their country. As if this isn’t bad enough,
certain prejudiced South Africans have upped the ante by openly mocking
Nigerians over their helplessness in this situation.
Some have even resorted to threatening a repeat of the xenophobic
attacks that have roiled the relationship between both countries in
recent years, with some demagogues threatening to attack Nigerians still
in the country after June 16th.
While diplomatic representatives of other nations are regularly seen at
Nigerian airports regularly arranging the repatriation of their
nationals, the official message from the Nigerian government and its
Ministry of Foreign Affairs seems to be that ordinary Nigerians are on
their own.