President Muhammadu Buhari Thursday in Pretoria, South Africa, called
\nfor more tolerance, vigilance and heightened security in countries to
\nensure safety of citizens, noting that competition heralded by
\nglobalization, especially with ease in migration, will only get more
\nintense for businesses.<\/p>\n
Responding to questions during a press conference at the Union Building,
\nalongside his host, President Cyril Ramaphosa, the President said
\nauthorities should be more pro-active in detecting early signals of
\nviolence between competitors, while migrants and companies should adhere
\nto the local laws of countries.<\/p>\n
“Police must be on alert not to allow violence to escalate,” he said.<\/p>\n
President Buhari said the business world had turned out more dynamic
\nover the years, with foreigners competing with locals in businesses that
\nwere initially considered low. He said the panacea would only be for
\nsecurity agencies to show more interest in market operations, players
\nand likely areas of tensions.<\/p>\n
The President likened the situation of Nigerians in South Africa to
\nGhana where competition at low levels of the economy breeds intense
\ncompetition, noting that it will keep growing with population explosion.<\/p>\n
The President told Nigerians living in various parts of the world,
\nespecially in South Africa, to adhere with the laws of the country they
\nreside, and ensure compliance with market laws.<\/p>\n
“Like it is said, ‘when you are in Rome behave like the Romans’. Always
\nbe law abiding,” he said.<\/p>\n
Earlier in his remark, the President condemned attacks on Nigerians and
\nthe burning of their properties in South Africa, describing it as
\n“unacceptable”, while assuring the South African government that their
\ncitizens\u00a0 and businesses in Nigeria will always be protected from harm.
\nHe also condemned the reprisal attacks in Nigeria.<\/p>\n
“In my discussions with President Ramaphosa and the Bi-National
\nCommission meeting, we reviewed wide range of issues at national,
\nregional, continental and global levels,” he added.<\/p>\n
He said some of the issues were on trade, investment, mining, security,
\npolice affairs and environment. “Our two countries have also agreed to
\nunequivocally address the challenges in our relations including the
\nrecent people to people challenges that saw attacks against foreign
\nnationals, including Nigerians, and their properties, which we strongly
\ncondemned.”<\/p>\n
In his remarks, President Ramaphosa said the attacks on foreigners in
\nSouth Africa, including Nigerians, were regrettable, assuring that his
\ngovernment will work hard to see an end to such attacks. He also
\ncondemned reprisal attacks in Nigeria.<\/p>\n
He said President Buhari is the first president to embark on a state
\nvisit in South Africa since they came into power.<\/p>\n
“We will work together to promote cohesion and best values. What
\nhappened did not reflect our values. We both condemn the attacks and the
\nreprisal in strongest terms. We will set up mechanisms for early
\nsignals,” he said.
\nPresident Ramaphosa said his country will also create a more enabling
\nenvironment for Nigerian businesses to thrive in South Africa,
\nacknowledging that more South African companies operate in Nigeria,
\nwhile Nigerians were mostly in Small and Medium Scale sectors in his
\ncountry.<\/p>\n
“We have large corporations operating in Nigeria while you have small
\nand medium enterprises from Nigeria here in South Africa.” He promised
\nto deepen the reforms in his country to open the space for more Nigerian
\nbusiness to “address the imbalance”.<\/p>\n
“The rule of law must be obeyed by all citizens. Nigerians in South
\nAfrica must obey the rule of law, while South Africans in Nigeria must
\nobey the rule of law,” he said.<\/p>\n
Nigerian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama and South African
\nMinister of International Relations and Cooperation, Dr Naledi Pandor,
\nsigned agreements on the minutes of the 9th session of Bi-National
\nCommission.<\/p>\n
President Muhammadu Buhari Thursday in Pretoria, South Africa, called for more tolerance, vigilance and heightened security in countries to ensure safety of citizens, noting that competition heralded by globalization, especially…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":69521,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n