“It is not enough to defend mines and major corporate economic ventures by South African security apparatuses and not have plans for the small and medium scale businesses of Africans in South Africa.”
A former United Nations diplomat, Babafemi Badejo, has condemned the xenophobic attacks on Nigerians living in South African and reprisal from Nigerians against South African businesses in Nigeria.
Badejo said: “The developments in South Africa and subsequent reactions in Nigeria are extremely sad and reflect the failure of leadership in both countries and more so in South Africa, he said.
He said the attacks could have been avoided had the two government taken proactive measures to ensure peaceful cohabitation of citizens living outside of their countries.
He explained: “Envy and jealousy of successful entrepreneurial Africans by unemployed South Africans cannot be addressed in one day. However, there should have been regular social and traditional media efforts that are geared towards letting South Africans know that other Africans are not responsible for their individual plights.
“It is not enough to defend mines and major corporate economic ventures by South African security apparatuses and not have plans for the small and medium scale businesses of Africans in South Africa.”
He blamed the South African government for not putting up adequate measures to forestall attacks on foreigners, while also stating that the slow reaction of the Nigerian government led to citizens taking the law into their hands.
Badejo said: “Furthermore, the South African government should have been more proactive in community intelligence gathering to nip any attempt to go on a rampage in the bud. Similarly, contingency plans to handle outbreaks immediately should have been in place. Deployment of overwhelming forces from the beginning as opposed to waiting days should have been the case.
“Equally, the Nigerian political leadership has woefully failed by maintaining a failed state situation in Nigeria as the leaders continue to steal as these actions continue to drive our people into forced self-exile.
“The Nigerian political leadership is equally a failure by its inaction when it comes to protecting its citizens and their respective individual interests around the world.
“The weakness of President Muhammadu Buhari in wishing problems away and behaving as if they will disappear on their own has been the case in Nigeria well over four years. While this may work in Nigeria as a result of nationals' relative docility, it should have been considered that built-up tension would be unleashed in cases of perceived external injustice being meted on compatriots.
“In the current situation, the Nigerian mobs decided that the Nigerian government will do nothing as it has shown over time that it cares very little for Nigerian lives in its country. In this situation, Nigerian mobs descended to the levels of barbarians and started looting and attacking South African brand names in Nigeria as a tit-for-tat.
“If the Nigerian government had visibly taken actions of showing that it was ready to take actions; that it would demand respect and extension of rule of law to Nigerians, the Nigerian mobs would not have descended to the situation of wrong self-help. Belated actions like recall of Ambassador and withdrawal from World Economic Forum if it had been timely could have indicated to Nigerian barbarians that President Buhari and his Foreign Minister would embark on pressures for the protection for Nigerians and their properties as the rule of law kick into place on punishment for criminal Nigerians and criminal South African mobs.”