The Federal Government has announced plans to seek compensation from the South African government for Nigerians who were forced to abandon their businesses and properties due to rising anti-immigrant protests.
The Acting Nigerian High Commissioner to South Africa, Alexander Ajayi, disclosed this during an appearance on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Tuesday, as another batch of voluntarily returning Nigerians was expected to arrive in Lagos.
According to Ajayi, the Nigerian government has begun documenting businesses, vehicles, and other assets left behind by returnees as part of efforts to pursue compensation.
“I have asked them to document very accurately those things they were leaving behind in terms of businesses, cars, movable and immovable properties. We can now take it up with the South African government,” he said.
He explained that the government’s intervention would not end with evacuating affected citizens, stressing that efforts would continue to recover the value of abandoned investments.
“We are going to systematically follow up and work with the South African government to get to the exact locations of all these businesses, shops and properties, because we will not allow the labour people have suffered to build over the years to just go down the drain.”
Ajayi also dismissed claims that most Nigerians living in South Africa are undocumented immigrants, insisting that many entered the country legally but became victims of prolonged delays in renewing their immigration documents.
“You cannot rightly claim that these were undocumented because most of them came to the country legally. They were caught up in unnecessary delays,” he stated.
Meanwhile, an Air Peace aircraft departed Nigeria on Monday to evacuate another batch of Nigerians who voluntarily chose to return home ahead of planned anti-immigrant demonstrations scheduled to begin on June 30.
