Xenophobia: South African Youths Attack 5 Nigerians

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Foreign-Affairs-Minister-Geofrey-Onyeama Five Nigerians were said to have been attacked in Polokwane, Limpopo Province of South Africa  in renewed xenophobic attacks, according to The Nigeria Union in that country.

This is even as Minister of Interior, Lt.-Gen. Abdulrahman Danbazau (retd) pledged that  the Federal Government would monitor all immigrants to enhance national security.

Mr Collin Mgbo, Secretary of the Union in the Province, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on telephone from Polokwane that three of the five Nigerians attacked were in critical condition in the hospital.

“I received a call that a Nigerian was attacked at Ivy Park in Polokwane on March 15. I got to the scene and saw that the Nigerian was almost dead, his house was looted and burnt”, he said.

Mgbo said another Nigerian was also attacked in the same neighbourhood same day and that while he got to the scene, the mob left the wounded man and descended on him.

“They left the wounded Nigerian and faced me. They destroyed my car and I managed to escape and ran to a police station”, he said.

The secretary added that three Nigerians, including the owner of a mechanic’s garage, were attacked at Moledji, near Polokwane .

“Their shops and houses were looted, vandalised and destroyed. The local chapter of the union has reported these attacks to the South African police, Nigerian mission and national secretariat of our union.

“Our national secretariat is on top of the situation. As we speak, three Nigerians in the hospital are in critical condition and I do not know if they will survive because of the severity of the attack”, he said.

Mgbo urged the Federal Government to persuade its South African counterpart to ensure the safety of Nigerians in their country.

Similar, in February, property worth millions of dollars belonging to Nigerians, were destroyed.

The Federal Government later sent a delegation led by Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffry Onyeama and his Interior counterpart  Dambazau to South Africa for discussion on curtailment of the attacks.

Speaking  on the new immigration policy which the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) was due to implement, the Minister of Interior said It is possible to monitor all immigrants from the entry point up to where he is going to stay.According  to him,  there are immigration personnel up to the ward level, while the NIS would partner the local communities, community and religious leaders therein to achieve the objective.

He noted that anyone coming into the country should be known as long as the visitor would spend more than 90 days adding that  the immigrant had to be registered because it was important  for the efficiency of the NIS and internal security.