Following renewed xenophobic attacks in South Africa targeting foreign nationals, including Nigerians, more than 1,000 citizens have returned home devastated after fleeing for their lives. Many were forced to abandon businesses and investments worth millions of dollars, leaving behind years of hard work as violence and hostility escalated across parts of the country. OLASUNKANMI AKINLOTAN writes
For many Nigerians, South Africa once represented the promise of a better life, a destination where hard work, resilience and determination could yield opportunities that seemed increasingly elusive in their home country. For years, thousands crossed the continent in search of economic stability, building businesses, raising families and contributing to their host communities while supporting loved ones back in Nigeria.
But for many of those dreams, the promise of a greener pasture seems to or have now been cut short. What took years, and in some cases more than a decade, to build was dismantled within weeks as renewed xenophobic tensions forced hundreds of Nigerians to flee for their lives, abandoning businesses, homes, vehicles and lifelong investments in a desperate bid to survive.
The latest wave of returnees arrived in Nigeria through an emergency evacuation programme coordinated by the Federal Government following renewed anti-immigration campaigns and growing hostility towards foreign nationals in South Africa.
It was an emotional moment when the returnees were speaking about their experiences and events that led to their unplanned return. While some shed tears, some were also struggling to clear the mucus from their noses while speaking with journalists at the airport about the pains South Africans had subjected them to, under the guise of Xenophobia.
The evacuation became imperative following brutal attacks on foreign nationals in South Africa, Nigerians inclusive over the rising xenophobic rhetoric, with foreign Africans increasingly accused of taking jobs from South Africans and placing pressure on public services.
Protesting organisations, including ActionSA, the Patriotic Alliance and uMkhonto we Sizwe, have repeatedly portrayed migrants as competitors for scarce economic opportunities, while anti-immigration groups such as Operation Dudula and March and March intensified campaigns demanding that foreigners leave the country.
Across social media, disturbing videos showed crowds marching through communities, chanting anti-immigrant slogans and openly threatening foreign nationals. Nigerians, Zimbabweans and other African migrants became the focus of renewed intimidation, with reports of assaults, looting and forced displacement becoming increasingly common. Faced with growing fears for their safety, many chose to leave everything behind rather than risk becoming victims of violence.
According to officials in Diaspora Commission, the Federal Government evacuated the returnees in six separate flights. Air Peace transported 258, 266, 262 and 282 Nigerians in four operations, while ValueJet evacuated another 66 before a final chartered flight brought home 40 more Nigerians.
Returnees recount ordeals
For Okeke Boniface, returning to Nigeria marked the painful end of a journey that had lasted almost 13 years.
The Enugu State indigene left Nigeria in 2013 determined to create a better future. Working as a chef, he gradually established himself, built a modest business and supported family members back home. South Africa had become more than a workplace; it had become the foundation upon which he had built his adult life.
Reflecting on his experience, Boniface struggled to describe the emotional toll of what he had endured.
Speaking immediately after stepping out of the aircraft, “The experience I had in South Africa is an unforgettable experience,” he said and then paused as though searching for words that could fully capture his ordeal.
“I experienced a lot of risky situations and a lot of hypertension, but I thank God that I am back home in my father’s land,” He emphasised. that life changed dramatically when anti-immigrant sentiments escalated.
According to him, fear spread quickly through migrant communities as rumours of coordinated attacks became more frequent and increasingly believable.
He said, “It started early last month. They started chasing everyone. They told everybody they must go home, whether you have a permit or not.”
Although Boniface was never physically assaulted, he said the warnings became impossible to ignore. His South African landlord, concerned for his safety, privately advised him to leave before the violence reached his neighbourhood.
He said, “My landlord told me that many people were planning to attack us from house to house. He likes me and didn’t want anything to happen to me.”
He said the warning eventually forced him into what initially looks like an impossible decision.
“When it looks like the heat is getting closer, my years of labour suddenly mean little compared to the value of staying alive.I left my business, I left my car and came back home. handed my car over to one of my friends to sell and send the money to me, but for now I don’t know what will happen,” he said quietly.
Accepting his fate, he said, “I can’t go back to South Africa, I want to stay in my father’s land and I know I will succeed because I am a hustler.”
He also expressed gratitude to the Nigerian government, whose evacuation programme brought him safely home.
“I thank the Nigerian government. May God give them wisdom and understanding to continue leading Nigerian citizens,” he stated.
Another returnee, Benjamin Okoye shared a similar story of interrupted dreams. Originally from Anambra State, with maternal roots in Kogi State, he says the decision to leave South Africa was not motivated by economics but by survival. When the atmosphere became increasingly hostile, preserving his life became more important than preserving his investments.
He said in the last two months he moth had been worried in Nigeria.
“To stay alive now, I had to leave every other thing behind me. My means of livelihood and my house are now things of the past. I am her only male child and She has been calling me since this brouhaha started,” he noted.
Okoye dismissed claims that only undocumented migrants were targeted during the hostility.
Looking back, he said the dream that once drew him to South Africa now feels painfully distant.
“I heard people saying those South Africans are after are only those without papers, That is untrue. My friend and I both had valid papers, but we are here today.
“We went there believing it was a greener pasture, but it has turned out to be what it is today,” he maintained.
For Milly Abuh, the destruction of her livelihood happened swiftly. She said she had been operating a small retail business before authorities suddenly shut it down.
“I had a shop where I do my business, the police came and closed the business because I couldn’t provide what they called proper documentation.
“When I tried to ask questions, they started beating me.”
Lara Jacob insisted that she had always complied with South Africa’s immigration requirements. She said she possessed valid documentation and lived legally until authorities refused to renew her permit during the recent crackdown.
Jacob said the hostility extended far beyond immigration offices. Fear became part of daily life, while stories of violence against foreigners became increasingly common.
She explained, “I wasn’t staying illegally in South Africa, I had my permit. But when I wanted to renew it, they refused. They simply told us to go home and fix our country.
“They always threatened that they would kill us all if we didn’t leave their country, South Africans behave like animals. The situation became like a place where there were no laws when it came to foreigners. I was living in fear until now.”
She also recounted the trauma suffered by a Zimbabwean friend who, according to her, was raped by a South African without justice being served.
“A South African raped my friend and nothing was done. Two of my neighbours had their businesses looted multiple times,” she added.
For Igwe Roda Chioma, the emotional scars run deeper than the financial losses. Having spent two years in South Africa, she said the feeling of exclusion was constant and exhausting.
She described her experience simply as “terrible.”
“They didn’t want foreigners anymore, Apart from that, there was discrimination. When they spoke their language and you couldn’t respond, it automatically sent a message that you didn’t belong. It wasn’t a nice one. today I am just happy that I came back home safely,” she recalled.
Now responsible for raising two young children, Chioma’s focus seemed to have shifted entirely to rebuilding her life.
She stressed, “I just wish I could get a job, I have two children and I want to be able to take care of them and myself.
“I mostly don’t like talking about this. Not just me, but many Nigerians have lost so much because of the unexplainable acts of the South Africans.”
Nigerians forgotten gesture
Watchers have described what recently happened in the modern-day South Africa as not just an ordinary criminal violence; but as a profound moral bankruptcy, a gratuitous act of ingratitude that casts a long, shameful shadow over the nation that once claimed to champion human dignity and liberation.
It is on record that between 1960 and 1995, Nigeria expended in excess of $61 billion, supporting South Africa’s freedom struggle, a sum unmatched by any other nation on earth. Prime Minister Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa’s 1961 letter of solidarity to the ANC was not mere rhetoric; it was followed by tangible, sacrificial action.
Nigeria was the first African country to provide direct financial assistance to the ANC, contributing $5 million annually by the 1970s and launching the Southern Africa Relief Fund in 1976, which raised $10.5 million in merely six months through what became known as the “Mandela Tax”, where Nigerian students voluntarily skipped meals to donate.
The magnitude of Nigeria’s commitment can not be overstated. Under General Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration, the Nigerian government contributed $3.7 million personally, while cabinet ministers and civil servants emptied their pockets. Nigeria refused to sell oil to apartheid South Africa, forfeiting an estimated “$41 billion” in revenue.
Hundreds of South African exiles, including future President Thabo Mbeki, received free education in Nigeria, spending formative years under Nigerian hospitality. Nigeria issued over 300 passports to South Africans who were internationally ostracised.
Scholars speak
Speaking with our correspondent on the development, Professor of International Relations at Obafemi Awolowo University, Prof Charles Ukeje, said the
roots of South Africa’s renewed xenophobic attacks, particularly against Nigerians and other Africans, cannot be separated from the country’s difficult post-apartheid journey.
Ukeje said South Africa’s political leadership after apartheid failed to deliver the democracy, good governance and economic development that citizens expected, creating the need for a convenient scapegoat.
He recalled the role African countries, particularly Nigeria, played in the struggle against apartheid, arguing that the history has not been adequately passed down to younger South Africans.
“First and foremost, you must understand the context that has this kind of xenophobic response, not just to Nigerians but to other Africans.
“I know you know the history of how, in the context of apartheid, African countries rallied round South Africa to collapse apartheid and the role Nigeria played in that,” he said.
According to him, successive South African elites have failed to properly connect the younger generation with that history.
“I think the reason we see the recent turn of events is that the South African elites that came into power after the collapse of apartheid and after Nelson Mandela did not deliver the dividend of democracy and did not deliver the dividend of good governance, but they need a scapegoat,” Ukeje said.
“They are shifting the blame of their failure to deliver on democracy, good governance and economic development. They are not coming to accept the blame but they are scapegoating.”
He compared the situation to Nigeria’s own experience during the economic difficulties of the Second Republic, when foreigners, particularly Ghanaians, became targets of public resentment.
He recalled, “It had also happened in Nigeria when the country was facing very serious economic problems. The Shagari government did not want to come clear with it, and that was why we blamed Ghanaians. It’s in the nature of political elites to shift blame.”
Going forward, how called in the Nigeria government to not only engage with the South African government but to ensure that the countries foreign policies are retool by ensuring that citizens are made to be at the centre of it.
The scholar emphasised that Nigeria’s policies should now focus more on reciprocal gains other than completely watching out for Africa as whole as gesture he said has caused many to take Nigeria for granted.
“We have always predicated our foreign policies on expectations, particularly of the other partner, with no returns. Whenever we try to ensure that we help other African countries, we get our fingers burnt. Our foreign policies since independence have always been predicated on Africans first. Africa has always been the centre of Nigeria’s foreign policy. That is not necessarily a bad thing, but there is no free lunch. When the Americans give you $1, they will get $1.50 back from you.
“So why don’t we begin to predicate our foreign policies on returns? We must begin to tie our policy to what we get, so we can stop being taken for granted. We are taken for granted in South Africa, a country we put so much money into and helped get freedom; we are taken for granted at ECOWAS, an institution that we have independently sustained for long, and so on.
“Now, we need to better engage their government, firstly, for them to react to the gaps and developmental aspirations of the people of South Africa. Although, they may say it is not Nigeria’s right because Nigeria also had its own problems too.
“But as a country, we must begin to scrutinize our foreign policies because any country with a foreign policy that is not centred on the people, how do you then protect your citizens and territorial integrities? We must really overhaul our foreign policies going forward.” The academic don insists.
FG expresses anger
Since the incident political leaders have at different fora threatened sanctions of various degrees but till the time of this report no sanction has been ordered against South Africa diplomatically or against their business interests in Nigeria.
Loud among the voices calling for the sanction was Senator Adams Ohiomole, who had called for action against South African businesses to show Nigeria’s anger against attacks on its people. The Senator had said this both on the ground of the Senate and on media platforms.
The Senate, again, warned that Nigeria could review its diplomatic relations with South Africa if renewed xenophobic attacks against Nigerians continue, as lawmakers condemned the reported targeting of Nigerian citizens and businesses.
The resolution followed a motion sponsored by Senator Asuquo Ekpeyong, who drew the attention of the Red Chamber to the June 30, 2026, ultimatum allegedly issued to Nigerians residing in South Africa, describing it as a grave threat to their safety and livelihoods.
Also, expressing anger against the government and people of South Africa, The PUNCH reports that delegates who had visited Nigeria state capital were ignored by President Bola Tinubu.
The PUNCH gathered that sources with knowledge of the development confirmed to PUNCH that the delegation, led by South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ronald Lamola, had sought an audience with the Nigeria President were not granted audience.
Instead, Tinubu instructed them to engage with Enikanolaiye, who was appointed Minister of State for Foreign Affairs in June 2026 after Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu was elevated to the substantive ministerial position following the exit of Yusuf Tuggar. The development comes at the heat of the diplomatic row between both countries.
Also an expert in international affairs and Doctoral Candidate in Globalisation and Labour Politics at the University of Kassel, Germany, Soneye Lekan, has called for a fundamental reassessment of Nigeria’s relationship with South Africa over the recurring attacks on African immigrants, particularly Nigerians, warning that the crisis should no longer be treated merely as an economic or people-to-people dispute.
Lekan described the attacks as “Afrophobia”, arguing that the pattern of violence against migrants of African origin points to a deeper socio-political problem that requires stronger intervention by the Nigerian government and the African Union.
“There are multiple layers to the ongoing crisis against immigrants in South Africa, but we must first call it exactly what it is: Afrophobia. What we have witnessed over the years has been a pattern of organised attacks disproportionately targeted at migrants of African origin. This is not simply an issue of foreigners in South Africa; it is, fundamentally, an African problem with a deep socio-political dimension that cannot be adequately explained or dismissed as an economic conflict between citizens and immigrants.”
According to him, the reported death of at least 105 Nigerians, alongside the repatriation and displacement of thousands over the last seven years, should ordinarily have triggered a much stronger response from the Nigerian government.
“At least 105 Nigerians have reportedly been killed, while thousands have been repatriated and many others displaced in recurrent violent attacks in South Africa over the last seven years. These are not mere statistics. Each represents a life lost, a family disrupted and a citizen whose country ought to have been able to provide meaningful protection and demand accountability on their behalf.”
Lekan, however, welcomed the Nigerian government’s decision to take the matter before the AU, but expressed concern over the recent position attributed to Nigeria’s ambassador to South Africa that the crisis was essentially at the people-to-people level rather than one involving political leadership.
“To what extent can we honestly describe this as merely a people-to-people problem when the political leadership itself has publicly commented on the protests? If political leaders are publicly characterising the protests and responding to them, then political leadership cannot simultaneously be treated as completely detached from the problem.”
He particularly questioned how the matter could be separated from government responsibility where security personnel were allegedly involved in the killing of Nigerians.
“How can we say this is not a political leadership problem when state security agents have allegedly been directly involved in the killing of Nigerians? That question deserves a clear answer from both governments.”
The expert also drew attention to a memorandum reportedly co-developed by the Nigerian High Commission in South Africa and the South African government to establish mechanisms for preventing and controlling future attacks. He noted that while Nigeria had signed its portion, the South African government was yet to do so.
“If an agreement designed to prevent future attacks has been accepted and signed by one government but remains unsigned by the other, Nigeria must demand to know why and what concrete steps will be taken to close that gap. Diplomatic engagement must produce measurable commitments, timelines and accountability.”
Lekan further called for a review of the visa-processing arrangement between both countries, particularly the reported use of third-party channels by Nigerians seeking South African visas.
“Nigeria must insist that South Africa respects Nigerian applicants enough to deal with them directly on visa processing not through an arrangement that creates unnecessary loopholes and opacity.”
Beyond bilateral relations, he urged Nigeria to demand appropriate reparations and accountability before the AU, stressing that economic hardship could not justify violence against African migrants.
“Economic hardship may explain frustration, but it cannot legitimise Afrophobia, murder, destruction of property or the persecution of African migrants. The inability of a government to create sufficient employment opportunities for its citizens cannot be converted into a justification for violence against fellow Africans.
“Who is funding these crises? Who is initiating them? Who benefits from the growing divisions among Africans? And who is encouraging Afrophobia across the continent? These are questions that African governments should be asking not as an exercise in conspiracy, but as part of responsible continental security analysis.
“Nigeria has both a responsibility to protect its citizens abroad and a broader responsibility to defend the principle that African citizens should be able to live, work and trade across the continent without becoming targets of xenophobic or Afrophobic violence.
“The African Union cannot continue to preach free movement, free trade and continental integration while African migrants are being killed in another African country. Policies such as the African Continental Free Trade Area cannot achieve their full potential if the people expected to participate in continental commerce remain vulnerable to hostility, violence and discrimination when they cross borders.”