It is no more news that South Africa has become a dreaded place for Nigerians to visit and stay for some years now and its getting worse every year, the number of Nigerians that have been killed as a result of xenophobia driven attacks an  other shootings this year recently crossed the 100 mark, after two Nigerians were killed over the weekend.

The reluctance of the Nigerian government to tackle the menace has been addressed on YNaija before but it seems nothing has changed.

A confirmation of that was the recent statement credited to the Special Adviser to the president on foreign affairs Abike Dabiri-Erewa on the recent spate of attacks and the xenophobia that inspired it. According to her, the efforts to stop the killings of Nigerians in South Africa is not working and she advised Nigerians in the country to remain calm and not provoke their South African hosts.

After the last major spate of xenophobic attacks in South Africa in 2017, representatives of the National Assembly visited the country and secured an agreement with the South African government to end the attacks. But clearly, the National Assembly has not strengthened their relations with SA’s government or held the government to ransom with needed sanctions. The statement by Abike Dabiri can be simply termed as an ‘on your own’ in Nigeria parlance, it conveys the failure of the Nigerian government to protect its citizens in a foreign land.

The federal government of Nigeria is once again enjoined to step into the South African killings and protect Nigerians. If the current efforts are not working, then more effort should be made. Every life counts

tosin adesina