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Nigeria has said it plans to repatriate more than 1,000 of its citizens from South Africa as tensions rise over immigrants in that country. South Africa has long been a destination for documented and undocumented workers from Africa.
Abuja’s move comes after Ghana recently repatriated hundreds of its citizens from South Africa in response to a wave of protests and violence aimed at foreigners.
Selection for Nigeria’s voluntary repatriation program began on Thursday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Kimiebi Ebienfa told AFP on Friday.
“The total figure is not yet known,” he said. “We expect more than 1,000 people.”
In a statement dated Tuesday, Nigeria’s high commission in Pretoria said it had “negotiated waivers with the host authorities” so that persons with “immigration-related offences” would be allowed to depart on the eventual repatriation flights, rather than being detained.
South Africa has been attracting workers from other African countries for years, mainly because of the country’s larger economy and job opportunities compared to many neighboring countries.
However, the country’s high unemployment rate, currently over 30%, has fueled tensions over immigration over the years. This has led to xenophobic protests and violence on several occasions, with reports of renewed incidents in recent weeks.
The latest tensions have revived uneasy debates right across Africa about xenophobia, migration and the gap between pan-African rhetoric and the realities migrants face on the continent.
An ultimatum by one citizen-led group that illegal migrants must be deported by June 30 raised fears of violence after previous incidents of anti-immigrant unrest that claimed dozens of lives.
Ghana repatriated about 300 people last month – the first group of what authorities said was expected to be about 800 Ghanaian citizens in total.
The South African government said it was stepping up action against undocumented immigrants, but warned citizens not to take the law into their own hands.
According to Statistics South Africa, more than three million foreigners live in South Africa, or 5.1% of the population.
More than 63% of them come from countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which consists of 16 members.