The Buhari administration has also proven this comment to be true with
\nits response to the recent killings of Nigerians in South Africa. The
\nxenophobic and anti-immigrant attacks on Nigerians living in South
\nAfrica which have become a recurring decimal will hardly stop due to the
\npoor response of the Nigerian government. Government is not taking tough
\nand decisive action against these attacks targeted at Nigerians and
\ntheir businesses in South Africa.<\/p>\n
The reason is that there is no foreign policy direction under the Buhari
\nadministration. Nigeria is presently regarded as the giant of Africa,
\nbut other countries on the African continent do not have regard for
\nNigeria\u2019s status. Nigeria has failed to provide the needed leadership
\nfor other African countries. Also, Nigerian leaders do not care about
\nthe plights of their citizens whether home or abroad.<\/p>\n
Why would citizens of other countries treat Nigerians with such
\ncontempt? The Nigerian government over the years has not shown that it
\ncares and value the lives of Nigerians. Nigerian citizens have taken the
\nlaw into their hands, attacking South African businesses in Nigeria to
\nregister their displeasure over the killings of fellow Nigerians. This
\nis due to the failure of the Buhari administration to take tough and
\ndecisive actions in the last four years in the face of constant attack
\nand killings of Nigerian citizens. Despite the people\u2019s anger with
\ngovernment\u2019s response so far, the Buhari administration through the
\nMinister of Foreign Affairs says \u2018\u2019it would continue to pursue the
\noption of engaging the South African authorities to promote peace\u2019\u2019.<\/p>\n
This is not the first time Nigerians would be attacked and killed in
\nSouth Africa. Under Mr. Onyeama\u2019s watch as Minister of Foreign
\nAffairs, at least 200 Nigerians have been killed in South Africa. Over
\nthe last four years, Mr. Onyeama has been slow in responding to these
\nkillings but rather has been promoting economic diplomacy. During the
\nministerial confirmation at the senate, Mr Onyeama defended the South
\nAfrican government saying they are not complicit in the killings of
\nNigerians in South Africa. As governments continues to be weak in its
\nresponse, there will be no end to the violent attacks and killings of
\nNigerians in South Africa. In June 2019, Deputy Director-General of
\nChartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria, Mrs. Elizabeth Ndubuisi-Chukwu
\nwho was attending the conference of the African Insurance Organisation
\nin South Africa was murdered in her hotel room, but the Nigerian High
\nCommission in South Africa and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are yet
\nto fish out her killers and hold the South African government to account
\ndespite assurances in the aftermath of the incident. One month after in
\nJuly 2019, a Nigerian teenager, Chinonso Obiaju, was reportedly shot
\ndead in Johannesburg, South Africa. Nigerians do not trust that the
\nBuhari administration is capable of putting a stop to these acts of
\nwanton violence and killings.<\/p>\n
The manner in which the Buhari administration has treated the issue of
\nxenophobic and anti-immigrant attacks on Nigerian citizens in South
\nAfrica says a lot. First, the Buhari administration said it has fixed a
\nmeeting with the president of South Africa for October 2019 but then,
\nPresident Buhari had a brief meeting with President Cyril Ramaphosa on
\nthe sidelines of the 7th Tokyo International Conference on African
\nDevelopment (TICAD) in Japan. President Ramaphosa during this meeting
\nsaid he is working to end killings of Nigerians in South Africa. But in
\nless than one week, some citizens of South Africa resumed xenophobic and
\nanti-immigrant attacks on Nigerians. In response to the recent attacks,
\nthe Minister of Foreign Affairs summoned the South African High
\nCommissioner to Nigeria who denied the attacks were xenophobic. Next,
\nthe Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President, Mr Femi
\nAdesina said his boss has sent a special envoy to President Ramaphosa
\nwho is expected to land in Pretoria by Thursday 5th September, 2019.
\nThese are calculated attempts to save the face of the Buhari
\nadministration.<\/p>\n
The anger of Nigerians over the constant killings of fellow citizens
\nabroad is not misplaced. However, two wrongs don\u2019t make a right. The
\nrecent wave of looting and violent attacks targeting South African
\nbusinesses by Nigerian youths should be condemned. Nigerians can\u2019t
\ntravel to other countries for greener pastures and be victimized or
\nkilled because they are industrious and intelligent. This is the reason
\nwhy the Buhari administration must take tough and decisive actions
\nagainst South Africa. Approaching the issue of xenophobic and
\nanti-immigrant attacks in South Africa from a weak position shows that
\nthe lives of Nigerians do not matter which is why Nigerians back home
\nare outraged. Nigerians have decided to stand up for their fellow
\ncitizens involved in xenophobic and anti-immigrant attacks in South
\nAfrica since government has failed to fight for them.<\/p>\n
Many Nigerians are also killed on a daily basis on the Nigerian soil.
\nGovernments have been unable to put an end to these wanton killings
\nusing the same approach and strategies that have proven to be
\nineffective. Hence, Nigerians have decided to fight their own battles
\nwithout relying on government.<\/p>\n
Nigeria is no doubt critical to the rest of the continent in the words
\nof former US President, Barack Obama. But it has lost its glory. Many
\nAfrican countries are making significant progress in terms of education,
\nagriculture, infrastructure, health and security. Nigeria must wake up
\nand regain its lost glory by providing visionary and purposeful
\nleadership. Nigeria must get it right and be responsive to the plight of
\nits citizens whether home or abroad if it wants to regain its respect
\namong comity of nations. Sadly, the Buhari administration is not
\nproviding such leadership.<\/p>\n
The Buhari administration has not done enough in securing the lives and
\nproperties of the citizens. The slow response and indecisive action
\nagainst xenophobic and anti-immigrant attacks on Nigerians living in
\nSouth Africa shows that Nigeria is not living up to its role on the
\nAfrican continent. It also shows that Nigeria\u2019s security is no longer
\nat the center of our foreign policy.<\/p>\n
BOLAJI SAMSON AREGBESHOLA IS AN OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR AND THE AUTHOR OF
\n\u2018\u2019NIGERIAN POLITICAL PARTIES AND POLITICIANS: WINDING ROAD FROM
\nCOUNTRY TO NATION\u2019\u2019.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the past few days, xenophobic and anti-immigrant attacks in South Africa reached a tipping point. Innocent Nigerians, whose leaders were instrumental to ending the apartheid regime in South Africa,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":62745,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n