By Kingston Magare 18.6.2026
Nigeria’s minister of foreign affairs Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu said Thursday, her department was working to evacuate Nigerians who have registered to return home, before the June 30 deadline given to foreigners by protesting South Africans to leave their country.
This followed the emergence of a viral video showing a Nigerian businessman who had all his documents intact, but still being harassed by South Africans. They told him to leave whether he employs South Africans, pay his taxes or not.
Nigeria has already moved about 258 citizens out of the 1000 that put down their names for evacuation. Speaking via a statement Ambassador Odumegwu-Ojukwu assured that no Nigerian would be left behind.
She said, “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.”
She reminded South Africans that their kinfolks are also living and doing business in Nigeria.
“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,” she said.
She noted that it was sad that South African anti-migrant vigilante groups are giving their country a bad name.
“This 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,” she said.
