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LAGOS – The first batch of 258 Nigerian nationals displaced by a fresh wave of xenophobic violence in South Africa touched down at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, on Thursday, marking the beginning of a government-coordinated evacuation exercise that President Bola Tinubu reportedly pushed for with considerable personal urgency – even as pressure from world leaders and the South African government urged restraint.
The returnees – men, women and children – were received at the airport by the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Sola Enikanolaiye, and Abike Dabiri, head of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), in a ceremony that was both a homecoming and a sober reminder of the persistent vulnerability of Nigerian migrants on the African continent.
Xenophobic violence targeting foreign nationals – particularly those from West Africa – has been a recurring nightmare in South Africa for over two decades.
The latest wave of violence, which erupted in April, this year, once again sent shockwaves through Nigeria’s diplomatic corridors.
Five evacuation flights were arranged in partnership with Air Peace, with the remaining batches scheduled for June 15, 18, 22 and 24, respectively, all within the president’s stated deadline of the end of June.
MTN’s Gesture Draws Scrutiny
The returnees were promised financial assistance from several quarters.
Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State pledged one million naira to each returnee, while state governors were encouraged to follow suit. NiDCOM’s Abike Dabiri confirmed that structures were being put in place through the National Commission for Refugees to compel broader state-level support.
However, it was the intervention of telecommunications giant MTN that drew the sharpest reaction from observers.
The company, which has a presence in Nigeria and was represented at the reception, announced it would transfer one hundred thousand naira to each returnee’s account, in addition to fifteen thousand naira worth of airtime and a free starter pack.
For many watching, the gesture rang hollow – and not merely because of its modest scale. MTN Group is headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa.
As Nigerian communities were being attacked, their businesses torched and their lives upended, the company – one of the most profitable corporations on the continent – maintained a conspicuous public silence. One senior civil society figure, who asked not to be named, did not mince words.
“MTN is a South African company that has made billions from Nigerian consumers for over two decades. When Nigerians were being hunted down in the streets of Johannesburg and Durban, MTN said absolutely nothing.
Not a press statement, not a condemnation, not a word of solidarity. And now they show up with a hundred thousand naira and a SIM card? It is an insult dressed up as generosity.”
A second source, a Nigerian business leader with close ties to the diaspora community, was equally scathing. “What makes this particularly galling is the optics.
MTN’s roots are in South Africa – the very country whose citizens were perpetrating this violence. The least one would have expected was a clear, public denunciation of the attacks from MTN’s leadership.
