A political scientist, Dr. Kunle Fagbemi, has described the ongoing xenophobic attacks against African migrants in South Africa as unfortunate and unacceptable, urging stronger diplomatic, legal and economic measures to hold South African authorities accountable while commending the Nigerian government’s efforts to evacuate affected citizens.
Speaking in an interview with ARISE News on Friday, Fagbemi said the safe return of Nigerians fleeing the attacks should be welcomed, noting that some compatriots had lost their lives during the violence.
“It is unfortunate that the citizens of South Africa, particularly those who are involved in the campaign against other African migrants resident in South Africa, have not fully weighed the consequences. Already, some of them are recanting,” he said.
“I want to join the families of those who have successfully returned to Nigeria in thanksgiving that they already have an opportunity to leave South Africa alive, unlike some of our compatriots who actually died in the midst of this unfortunate episode of xenophobia.”
The Nigerian government has begun evacuating Nigerians who volunteered to return home, with the first batch already arriving in the country and further flights expected.
Assessing the government’s response, Fagbemi said the intervention was commendable but stressed that more needed to be done.
“The Nigerian state thus far has handled this in a manner that is slightly commendable and, at the same time, demands that a lot more be done within the context of what we have set for ourselves,” he said.
“You will recall that the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, at the commencement of this administration, said they were going to operate on the basis of four Ds, one of which was to improve consular services rendered to Nigerians abroad. This repatriation and evacuation of Nigerians falls into that category.”
However, he noted that Nigerians also have responsibilities when residing abroad, including registering with Nigerian diplomatic missions.
“We must put the record straight so that we do not focus only on lapses on the government side. There are responsibilities that Nigerians as citizens are expected to undertake whenever they get to another country,” he said.
“One, they are expected to register with the Nigerian mission in that country, which in this case is the Nigerian High Commission in South Africa. Not many of these people were registered, and that is why we are having some of these hiccups.”
“Some of those Nigerians we are now repatriating, painful as it may be, are people who overstayed because their visas had expired and they did not return home. Neither did they have all the required travel documents in some cases, which brings us back to the question of citizens’ rights, duties and obligations.”
Fagbemi argued that South Africa’s actions run contrary to African Union principles and human rights commitments.
“Under the Constitutive Act of the African Union, we are not supposed to have any form of discrimination,” he said.
“And the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, particularly Articles Two through Seven, does not allow for anything of this nature and character to occur in any member state.”
“This is where it becomes very instructive that we need to intervene and ask that the South African authorities must be brought to book, not only within the ambit of the bilateral commission that exists between Nigeria and South Africa.”
Addressing the broader issue of African unity, Fagbemi said the continent needed to deepen public awareness about regional integration and shared development goals.
“If we are to achieve a people-centred and people-oriented ownership of our development agenda, then we must move from an African Union of governments to an African Union of the people,” he said.
“I was privileged to have been a member of an organ of the African Union called ECOSOCC for three and a half years, and part of what we attempted to work on was how to transition from an African Union of governments to an African Union of the people. That is what informed Agenda 2063.”
He added that the African Union had already anticipated migration-related challenges through its policy frameworks.
“When you look at the African Union Migration Action Plan 2018–2030, you will discover that some of these issues had already been discussed,” he said.
“When you take a look at the diaspora initiatives of the African Union, the attempt is to increase human capacity development, which is what is actually lacking.”
“A number of the people who are busy raising dust and causing confusion that is leading to schisms among African citizens are doing so because they are not properly enlightened and they are not properly educated.”
Fagbemi therefore called on African governments to intensify public education campaigns.
“We now need to encourage the ministries of foreign affairs of every country and those entities in charge of integration and cooperation in Africa to step up the ante and begin a series of public enlightenment and awareness programmes,” he said.
“That is very lacking in South Africa. Even in Nigeria it is equally lacking. When instruments are signed at the continental level, we need to domesticate them and allow people to know that they exist.”
He also blamed the absence of African history in schools for weakening appreciation of the continent’s liberation struggles.
“For example, history not being taught in our schools has affected the way African populations relate with members of the frontline states, and we need to redress this dynamic,” he said.
On suggestions that Nigeria should reconsider its longstanding support for South Africa, given the country’s role in the anti-apartheid struggle, Fagbemi said the issue highlighted deeper questions about Nigeria’s foreign policy.
“Thank you very much, Rufai. The way you have framed this question brings us back to asking ourselves: do we truly and genuinely have a coherent foreign policy?” he said.
“If we are able to answer that question in the affirmative, we need to ask how much intellectual support we have to drive our foreign policy in such a way that allows us to monitor measurable indicators, undertake proper documentation, preserve institutional memory and sustain expected outputs and outcomes.”
According to him, Nigeria’s diplomatic influence was strongest when foreign policy formulation was supported by intellectual institutions.
“You will discover that when we had the likes of Professor Bolaji Akinyemi at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, and the likes of Dr. Femi Otubanjo and others helping to shape foreign policy, that was what led to Nigeria becoming the hub and centre of every Pan-African discourse,” he said.
“But unfortunately, after a while, there was a disconnect between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs. The disconnect did not affect that institute alone; it equally affected the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies.”
“So you were no longer driving the foreign relations and diplomatic agenda of the Nigerian state with the required intellectual rigour.”
Fagbemi further criticised the weakening of professional standards within the foreign service.
“Painfully, the Foreign Service Academy has not benefited extensively from intellectualism,” he said.
“We started having a situation where people began lobbying for their wards and relations to become officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and enter diplomatic practice.”
“That meant we were no longer recruiting the best of the best to serve in our foreign service system.”
Reflecting on Nigeria’s long-standing support for South Africa during the anti-apartheid struggle, Fagbemi argued that the country’s challenge has not been a lack of commitment but a failure to follow through strategically.
“The Nigerian state has a positive capacity to follow through on most issues, but we did not support our foreign policy initiatives with the required measurable indicators that we can always evaluate and assess,” he said.
“We need to ensure that our foreign policy is backed by proper documentation, evaluation and sustained engagement so that the sacrifices Nigeria has made over the years translate into tangible outcomes.”
Boluwatife Enome
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