Nigerians rising against xenophobic attacks targeted at their compatriots and other Africans in South Africa, there were indications yesterday that Nigeria might boycott the World Economic Forum on Africa 2019, starting in Cape Town today.
Presidency sources told newsmen that the dominant opinion among its senior officials was that neither President Muhammadu Buhari nor Vice President Yemi Osinbajo should attend the summit of world leaders holding in a country whose citizens has persistently attacked Nigerians and their property with its government doing virtually nothing to end the violence.
The boycott would be a warning shot that if the South African government fails to take concrete steps to stop the hatred of Nigerians in its domain, its economic interests in Nigeria would be severely restrained by the federal government.
“The general opinion here is that we need to show the South Africans that the crawling of a lion is not an act of cowardice and that Nigeria could not only bark but could also bite if it becomes necessary to do so,” a high-level presidential source said.
The boycott would be a logical follow up to government’s demand yesterday for compensation from South Africa for its citizens’ losses in the recent attacks.
There were pockets of reprisals targeted at notably South African businesses in Nigeria such as local outlets of Africa’s largest food retailer, Shoprite, and telecoms giant, MTN, forcing the organizations to scale down operations for now.
But the quick intervention of the police, which beefed up security around many popular South African businesses in Nigeria, prevented an escalation of the reprisals even as one person was feared dead in Lagos during the dispersal of a protest march.
The federal government, which had earlier yesterday summoned the South African High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr. Bobby Monroe, over the attacks, unveiled a proposal to deploy security operatives in the Nigerian High Commission in South Africa. The security operative will work with the commission to provide security for Nigerians in the country.
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Geoffrey Onyeama, told reporters in Abuja that the federal government had strongly protested the attacks on its citizens to South Africa.
According to him, the federal government expected that such security operatives would eventually be incorporated in the South African police with a view to assisting it in pre-empting future attack against Nigerians.
He said: “We have registered our strong protest to the government of South Africa but most importantly, we have put forward to the South African government what we think will make a big difference.
“One, with regards to compensation for those who have suffered losses and most importantly, a security proposal that we believe will safeguard the security of Nigerians in the future.
“We are hoping to see the possibility of sending some security agents, deploying them initially in the Nigerian High Commission, to work closely with the South African Police Force.”
Onyeama dismissed any contemplation by Nigeria to embark on any revenge mission against South Africans or their businesses, saying two wrongs do not make a right.
The minister said South Africa was provoked by the attacks by its nationals and was striving hard to put the situation under control.
“We don’t believe that two wrongs make a right. I think in terms of revenge on those kinds of attacks is not what we are looking forward to,” he said, adding: “The South African government has assured us that they are doing everything possible to address the situation; that they are equally exasperated by the whole event.”
Onyeama said the special envoy the president was sending to South Africa would table before the government the two issues bordering on compensations to Nigerians, who have lost belongings in the attacks, as well as the plan to deploy security operatives in the country.
