WITH UCHE NNADOZIE
It will be tragic if by the turn of events last week, Nigeria did not
have a comprehensive and strategic response to the xenophobic attacks
in South Africa. I began to worry when the administration was slow if
not lethargic to what the South African regime did or failed to do
following continuous targeting by her mobs of foreigners who live and
work with them. Let it be clear, there are now in the open many
instances that unfortunately show us that the government in Pretoria
gives under-the-table support or acquiescence to that country’s mob.
Nobody can tell what exactly has happened to previously arrested
hating thugs. Their Foreign Minister has not hidden her disdain for
“foreigners” through her own rhetoric; same is true of the deputy
minister of Police and indeed the president, Cyril Ramaphosa. All of
them talk about foreigners who have come to take small jobs which
should have been left to indigenes. They talk about domination of
communities and how that is dangerous to the future of their country’s
people.
I have also read about Nigerians who try to justify their reflex
response to anything Nigerian. They tried to rationalize what Nelson
Mandela’s country has done for more than a decade. Truth is,
xenophobia is not something to be joked about. South Africans have
shown that they hate foreigners, as a result have planned out a
strategy to violate them in order to force them out of their country.
Make no mistakes; the country belongs to South Africans of many ethnic
groups, Afrikaans, Indians and a few African ancient immigrants who
are not of the major tribal groups. Therefore, visitors to their
country are expected to obey their laws. When you don’t, you have the
law to contend with. Nigeria has never been such a country that
interferes on domestic matters of foreign countries (in that regard).
We even tell foreign countries to solve criminal matters that are
brought to our attention following their own due process. Just
recently, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI released names of
alleged internet fraudsters, since then, Nigeria has arrested several
of the culprits at home. The same applies to persons accused of drug
peddling, who we do not plead for, instead we go a step further to
help foreign countries to gather evidence. Unfortunately, South Africa
is not interested in resolving xenophobia or criminality as they
prefer to call it. They complain about crimes as though they don’t
have laws that punish crime; or as if they don’t have homegrown
criminal elements. Instead they enable their mobs to do that for them
what they are ashamed of doing themselves. I hear, pressure of
inequalities which the ruling party has failed to address over time
make them allow xenophobia to fester.
After years of painfully watching the shame in South Africa, Nigerians
in Lagos State decided to retaliate. That retaliation would have been
avoided if government had taken some steps to show that it was
offended by South Africa’s conduct. Nigerians waited for too long to
hear from their leaders. It was a needless wait. Some will argue that
it took just three days for the government to take a decision, but
that is if the latest attacks in South Africa were the first. No, they
were not. Consequently, the federal Government should have had a
ready-made response if the attacks were going to happen again. Also
when the president met with his vice and the Foreign Affairs Minister,
I was surprised that the National Security Adviser was not in the
meeting. I was surprised that the police, Department of State
Security, DSS and the National Intelligence Agency were not in the
room for the meeting. In fact, the DG NIIA was supposed to be there
too. We downplay issues that matter to our people with so much
disdain and sometimes ignorance. The Nigerian “street” was very angry
with South Africa, therefore government needed to act some symbolic
disavowal for the people to see that their government was doing
something.
Diplomacy is war by other means. Diplomacy is not necessarily the
absence of hostility and there is what is called cold war- It is a
war! Having been provoked countless times, Nigeria should have acted
much earlier and swiftly. Also, the choice of tools to use to deter
South Africa from condoning or continuing the barbaric xenophobic
attacks should also have been thoroughly debated previously. While I
support the boycott of the World Economic Forum summit held in that
country, we should have been the one to lead other African countries
away from the Forum. It should not look as if we were led. It is bad
optics. A leader should not be led.
Nigeria and South Africa should always have a good intercourse in the
international system. But it appears both envy and pressure from
within have conspired to keep us at this low key cold war. Yet, we
should not beg to be friends with those who we have generously
supported. This is why the photos and reports of what happened in
Lagos as reprisal to what has happened in South Africa for so long
miss the point. Nigerians are angry and that is putting it mildly. I
will not blame the Nigerian government because they are not the ones
that caused the xenophobia of South Africans, but they share part of
the blame for “loving” Pretoria more than our citizens. Yes I agree,
there are over 400 firms doing well in Nigeria that belongs to South
Africans, that country is one of the leading customers for our oil,
the country also has more than 800, 000 of us living legally and more
than 200, 000 undocumented. There are dual citizens too, that is
Nigerians that now hold South African passports. At least 1 million
Nigerians live and work in SA. Among them are some criminally minded
who deal in narcotics, scam people or run prostitution rings. No
question about that ugly dent, but they are far below minority and the
law is there to deal with any lawbreaker. It does not warrant a phobia
and attack on foreigners.
Nigeria must recalibrate the now worn out “Africa is the centre-piece
of Nigeria’s Foreign Policy.” Nigerians should be at the core of our
international relationships. We should strive to uphold the Nigerian
value and protect those who willy nilly send something home. Diaspora
remittances are a major chunk of our foreign direct investment and
Gross Domestic Product, GDP, totaling about $20 billion per annum.
Therefore, we must lend our voices against ill-treatment meted to our
people abroad. We do not condone bad behaviour, but the courts are
there to resolve criminal conducts. Finally, Nigerians must not leave
South Africa. Their stay there is guaranteed by United Nation
Convention and the African Union Charter. Foreigners are guaranteed
protection in their host communities and contrary to the talk at home
that if everything was alright in our country, our people will not go
out…that is a fallacy! The wealthiest, strongest and most influential
country in the world, United States has her citizens living in Nigeria
too. They are here eking out a living too, some doing illegal
business; the same with China who is the second most influential and
wealthiest. We see Chinese nationals everywhere even in my village.
