Reported by: Oahimire Omone Precious | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
The Federal Government has declared that Nigeria is deeply unhappy with South Africa following a fresh wave of xenophobic attacks targeting Nigerian citizens and other black African nationals, warning that retaliatory measures against South African interests in Nigeria are now under active consideration and not off the table. The strong diplomatic rebuke came from the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, during a briefing with State House correspondents at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Monday, June 8, 2026.
“Nigeria is not happy because Nigeria has sacrificed much for the South African struggle for independence,” Odumegwu-Ojukwu said. “Nigeria sacrificed quite a lot, committed funds, committed resources to aid South Africa. In schools, seats were reserved for South African students. My own generation, we carried placards. We demonstrated in front of South African assets. Sometimes we even got arrested for doing this. Nigeria is a serious frontline state.”
The minister’s frustration is rooted in a painful historical irony. Nigeria spent an estimated $61 billion supporting South Africa’s anti-apartheid struggle between 1960 and 1995, a sum unmatched by any other nation on earth. Nigeria provided direct financial assistance to the African National Congress, launched the Southern Africa Relief Fund which raised millions through what became known as the “Mandela Tax”, refused to sell oil to the apartheid regime at a loss of over $41 billion in revenue, and nationalised British Petroleum assets in 1979 as a direct protest. Hundreds of South African exiles, including future President Thabo Mbeki, received free education in Nigerian universities, and the country issued over 300 passports to South Africans who were internationally ostracised.
Today, Odumegwu-Ojukwu said, that sacrifice has been betrayed. Nigerians in South Africa are being targeted by mobs who loot their shops, burn their property, and intimidate their children in schools. Two Nigerian nationals have been killed in the latest wave of violence. “Our citizens are being harassed. Their properties are being looted. Criminal actions are being perpetrated, and the police refuse to do anything,” the minister said. “The South African government has not come out strongly and firmly enough to condemn these incidents.” She flatly rejected suggestions from some South African authorities that the victims were illegal migrants. “People who are doing legitimate business have their shops looted, their shops set on fire. Children cannot go to school because they are intimidated in their schools. To say that Nigerians who are in South Africa doing legitimate business are illegal migrants is absolutely untrue.”
Odumegwu-Ojukwu also noted a troubling racial pattern in the violence. “They are not asking other migrants to leave. They are only asking black migrants to leave,” she said.
Asked whether Nigeria might retaliate by restricting privileges for South African businesses and nationals operating in Nigeria, the minister said such a step remains on the table. “That is a situation that we are considering,” she said. “This is a decision that has to be taken at the highest level of government. But it is not off the table.” The House of Representatives had earlier recommended the temporary suspension of business permits for South African companies in Nigeria, including MTN and Stanbic IBTC Bank. The Senate has also resolved to send a high-level delegation led by Senate President Godswill Akpabio to South Africa to formally convey Nigeria’s displeasure.
On the humanitarian front, the government is moving to evacuate Nigerians who wish to return home. President Bola Tinubu has approved five Air Peace flights for the evacuation and directed the immediate establishment of a crisis response unit at Nigeria’s consulate in Johannesburg and the mission in Pretoria. As of Monday, 1,092 Nigerians had voluntarily registered for repatriation, with over 500 already screened and cleared. The screening process, being conducted jointly by Nigerian and South African authorities, has been extended to Wednesday, June 10, to accommodate all applicants.
The first evacuation flight, originally scheduled to depart Johannesburg on Monday, was rescheduled to Wednesday due to logistical coordination requirements. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the delay was not caused by diplomatic friction but by standard operational procedures. The National Emergency Management Agency is coordinating reception and rehabilitation support for the returnees. The evacuations follow similar operations by the Ghanaian government, which has repatriated hundreds of its own citizens from South Africa in recent weeks.
The renewed xenophobic violence in South Africa has revived painful debates across the continent about ingratitude, Pan-African hypocrisy, and the brutal gap between liberation rhetoric and the reality faced by African migrants in the Rainbow Nation. With over three million foreigners living in South Africa and unemployment above 30 percent, immigrant communities have become convenient scapegoats for economic frustrations. But for Nigerians who recall their country’s central role in ending apartheid, the violence cuts deeper. “Nigeria is a serious frontline state,” Odumegwu-Ojukwu said. “And Nigerians are not happy about how they have been treated.”
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