By Magnus Eze
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu has assured that no Nigerian who has indicated interest to leave South Africa would be left behind.
She disclosed that so far, about 1000 Nigerians have registered to be evacuated from South Africa before the June 30 deadline.
According to her, the first batch of 258 Nigerian nationals has already been air-lifted by the federal government from the troubled nation. Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Amb. Sola Enikanolaiye received the evacuees at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, on Thursday, June 11, 2026, on behalf of the federal government.
Responding to questions about the fate of Nigerians in South Africa, the minister said that it is the policy of the Renewed Hope Administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, that no Nigerian would be left to suffer unnecessarily in the hands of misguided Africans.
She noted that that the President in furtherance of citizen diplomacy empathises with Nigerians exposed to all manner of discriminatory conducts in every part of the world and has directed that those exposed to danger in South Africa who have voluntarily indicated willingness to return home must leave before the deadline.
The minister further indicated that as a law-abiding nation, any retaliatory measures against South Africa’s anti-migrant actions would have to follow the due legislative process.
She explained that so far, the executive arm is actively engaging South African authorities through diplomatic channels and broader actions.
The minister said the National Assembly has a constitutional role to play in determining Nigeria’s response should diplomatic engagements fail to halt the attacks on Nigerians and their businesses.
“When it comes to situations like this, of course, it is necessary to be temperate and exercise caution. But when your citizens are being harassed, when your citizens are people who have spent years there, and mind you, some of them are married to South Africans and have children who have known no other home but South Africa, then it becomes a serious concern.
“Now, under these circumstances, they are asking not just Nigerians, but also their South African spouses and their children, to leave South Africa,” the minister said.
She continued: “As I indicated before, there are these huge conglomerates. By the way, there are over 120 South African companies operating in Nigeria.
“Nobody is asking them to provide proof of identity. Nobody is asking South African staff working there whether they are South Africans or Nigerians, and nobody is taking over their shops or businesses.
“But this is happening to Nigerians in South Africa. So, I think that at some point, we really have to review the options available to us.
“We have MTN, MultiChoice, Stanbic, Protea and many other South African brands spanning multiple sectors.”
Vigilante groups have reportedly been targeting migrants across several cities, looting their shops, breaking into their homes, and subjecting them to intimidation and humiliation. Mobs are also alleged to have killed some foreign nationals, while the police and other security agencies have been accused of doing little to protect migrants or prevent the attacks and calls for them to leave the country.
Odumegwu-Ojukwu further said that the xenophobic action “is causing reputational damage, and that is quite sad because the late Madiba, Nelson Mandela – God rest his soul – worked so hard to project South Africa as the bastion of Pan-Africanism.
“And in one fell swoop, these anti-migrant vigilante groups have destroyed what this man sacrificed 28 years in prison for. So, it is causing reputational damage.
“Even within South Africa itself, people are cancelling concerts, and conferences are being called off.
“South Africa has been stained with the stigma of being a xenophobic country. This is not something I think they will be comfortable with in the long run.”
The minister strongly criticised South Africa’s failure to protect African migrants’ xenophobic attacks in the country, noting that this has damaged its international reputation and relations. Aside Nigeria, countries such as Ghana, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Mozambique are evacuating their citizens.
Also, the minister disclosed that the South African authorities discarded their memorandum of understanding with Nigeria on early warning mechanism which they had signed in October 2025. The pact was essentially to protect the lives and property of both Nigerians and South Africans in times of conflict like this.
She explained that instead, they had a pushback claiming that those who signed for them were not the requisite signatories to make it valid, and that there were other formalities and processes that needed to be conducted.
