The Minister of State II for Foreign Affairs, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro, has said that from available information from the Mission in South Africa, no Nigerian casualty has been ascertained in the ongoing xenophobic attacks in the country.
He noted that, “from the information emanating from our Mission in South Africa, no Nigerian casualty has been ascertained.”
He stressed that the Nigerian government is monitoring the developments in South Africa and will do all things to protect Nigerian citizens in South Africa. He assured that the Jonathan-led government is in control of the situation in South Africa as it affects Nigerian citizens.
“Our Acting High Commissioner to South Africa is in Durban right now to ensure the safety of Nigerian citizens in the affected areas. Our Acting High Commissioner to South Africa has the directive of our Government to address all issues arising from the crisis, ” he posted on twitter

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/04/xenophobiasa-no-nigerian-killed-in-south-africa-obanikoro/

For me, we should have seen this coming a long time back but for the corrupt, inept and direction less prism through which the handlers of our foreign policy saw their brief. We failed to seize the golden moment for Nigeria when Nelson Mandela came into his own! Our management of the end of the apartheid years lacked creativity and proactivity so much so Nelson Mandela shut down and went to his grave appallingly disappointed at what Nigeria had become! I commend his utterances about Nigeria to my readers. All things being equal, Nigeria should have been his second home thus affording him and our leaders an opportunity to weld the two countries together for all time as partners and not bitter competitors we have now become culminating in this so called xenophobia.

My views on this issue may not be celebrated but it does indicate the rot goes deeper! For example, how many know that Thabo Mbeki should be able to find his way around Ojuelegba in Lagos unassisted and better than many Nigerians? Truth is, he and several other South Africans who later came into leadership positions in their country lived in Nigeria educated and fed on our bill because the apartheid regime longed to have them for breakfast!

When payback time came for Nigeria at the end of apartheid and commencement of black majority rule in South Africa and Thabo became President we did not leverage at all to have favours done them reciprocated. Instead our knees went weak and buckled at the altar of greed, corruption, avarice and unpatriotic zeal with our leaders cutting private deals with priviledged South Africans to compromise our wellbeing. The South Africans have so far played along as it suits them fine! What with mtn, shoprite, dstv et al reaping our large market to sustain their own economy.

The result was a large exodus of about 800,000 Nigerians to South Africa in search of a better life not in sight in Nigeria. The exodus has till date been largely unplanned, uncoordinated and without well articulated goals to further our homeland interests. Informed South Africans know all these and more - it therefore cuts no ice with them when we scream xenophobia and ingratitude in the face of current unsavoury happenings under review. We need to look inward instead!