Ambassador Uche Ajulu-Okeke, the Nigerian Consul-General in South Africa, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, said Nigerians living in South Africa have lost more than N21m since the xenophobic attacks started.
Ambassador said: “Nigerians have compiled damages to their property and it is totalling about 1.2 million Rand or N21 million, which will be sent to the Federal Government for further action.”
Okeke added that in Durban, two of the three Nigerians who were injured during attacks had been treated and discharged from the hospital.
“The Nigerian mission in South Africa is on top of the situation. We are working hard to protect Nigerians in South Africa.
“Though, the task has not been easy, we are trying our best. In one of the hot spots at Jeppe, near Johannesburg, the mission assisted about 50 stranded Nigerians to re-settle.
“I have also visited the site of the attacks in Johannesburg to assess the damage and it was enormous,” the envoy said.
According to the ambassador, the Nigerian mission would meet with all Nigerian Union chapters in the nine provinces of South Africa to find approaches on how to stop the attacks.
“I am bringing all Nigerians together so that we work out a vigilance and alert mechanism; they will also tell me what their challenges and issues are,” she said.
Okeke said the mission and the Nigerian Union had been working effectively to meet the problems caused by the xenophobic attacks on Nigerians.
Meanwhile, Ikechukwu Anyene, the president of the Nigerian Union, said that 50 Nigerians were displaced at Jeppes town, near Johannesburg.
“We met about 300 Nigerians in Jeppes town, near Johannesburg, who fled for their safety and about 50 of them do not have any place to stay. We are making arrangements with the Nigerian mission in South Africa to get them a place to stay for their safety.
“The Nigerian union has also presented relief materials to those affected by the attacks and we are in touch with various branches of the union in the provinces on their safety and security,” he added.
Anyene said Nigerian shops and businesses in Durban and Johannesburg had been looted and some burnt. He said two shops belonging to Nigerians in Durban were looted and they lost goods worth 400,000 Rand.
The minister of home affairs says that more than 300 people have been imprisoned in South Africa in connection with the wave of violence against immigrants.
Malusi Gigaba released a warning to those responsible, saying that they would be subject to “the full might of the law”.
Watch the video of destroyed property below:
It should be noted that Martins Cobham, the acting Nigerian high commissioner to South Africa, said that the removal of Nigerians from the country was not an option for now.
He said the situation was being checked on lower, middle and high threat levels and stressed the need for Nigerians in the country to avoid areas of high risk, abide by the laws of the host country and cooperate with local security officials.
In the past two weeks, shops and homes owned by Somalis, Ethiopians, Malawians and other immigrants in Durban and surrounding townships have been targeted, forcing families to flee to camps protected by armed guards.
The Nigerian president-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, has recently said he is in full support of the steps taken so far by the Nigerian government in its efforts to protect the country’s citizens from the wave of xenophobic attacks.
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