As anti-immigration demonstrations spread across South Africa, Nigerian authorities have started documenting everything their returning citizens are leaving behind, laying the groundwork for a possible compensation claim against Pretoria.
Alexander Ajayi, Nigeria’s Acting High Commissioner to South Africa, said Nigerians returning under the Federal Government’s voluntary evacuation programme have been told to record every business, shop, vehicle, and other movable or immovable property they are abandoning before departure. Speaking to Channels Television, he said the government’s role goes beyond bringing citizens home. It also aims to protect the economic value they have built over years of living and working in South Africa.
“I have asked them before they left yesterday to document very accurately those things they were leaving behind in terms of businesses, in terms of even cars, movable and immovable properties,” Ajayi said.
The documentation effort is already shaping discussions with Pretoria. Ajayi said he met South Africa’s Deputy Minister of Finance just days earlier to raise the issue.
“In terms of the businesses, just three days ago, myself and the South African Deputy Minister of Finance were together, and we were discussing this,” he said, signalling that what began as consular assistance is now evolving into a diplomatic issue between Africa’s two largest economies.
The move comes as nationwide protests organised by the self-described March and March movement got underway on June 30. The group is calling for the mass deportation of undocumented migrants. The demonstrations have raised fears of renewed xenophobic violence, prompting some Nigerians to leave not because they lack legal status, but because they fear being caught up in unrest or attacks on their businesses, Ajayi said.
The protests have also drawn international attention. The U.S. Mission to South Africa has reduced operations at its facilities in Pretoria, Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Durban because of security concerns. President Cyril Ramaphosa has appealed for calm and urged people not to take the law into their own hands.
Nigeria says an estimated 500,000 of its citizens in South Africa may be undocumented, although officials acknowledge the figure has not been independently verified. So far, 335 Nigerians have returned home under the voluntary repatriation programme.
Ajayi said the records being compiled go beyond a simple inventory. His office plans to work with South African authorities to identify the exact locations of affected businesses and properties before submitting any formal claims. He said the goal is to ensure years of investment do not simply “go down the drain or be taken over by people.”
He also challenged claims that most Nigerians in South Africa are undocumented. According to Ajayi, many migrants fell out of status because of delays at South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs, which left people unable to renew expiring permits despite being in the country legally.
No legal framework for any compensation claim has been made public, and it remains unclear whether Pretoria would accept responsibility for privately owned assets lost during the unrest. Even so, Nigeria’s decision to formally document these losses suggests the issue could become a significant new point of tension between Abuja and Pretoria in the weeks ahead.
By: Andrews Kwesi Yeboah