S’Africa attacks: Nigerians lose N21m, says envoy

Zimbabweans moving their belongings from a temporary refugee camp in Chatsworth, South of Durban in South Africa before boarding a bus back to their country... on Sunday

Nigerian Consul-General in South Africa, Amb. Uche Ajulu-Okeke, said on Sunday that Nigerians lost more than N21m Rand (1.2m) in the on-going xenophobic attacks in South Africa.

Ajulu-Okeke told the News Agency of Nigeria by phone from Johannesburg, South Africa, that the loss included looted shops, burnt shops, two burnt mechanic workshops, 11 burnt cars and two stolen cars, among others.

“Nigerians have compiled the cost of the damage to their property and it is totalling about 1.2m Rand or N21m, which will be sent to the Federal Government for further action,” the ambassador said.

She said that two of the three Nigerians who were wounded during the attacks in Durban had been treated and discharged from the hospital.

The consul-general said that she would go back to Durban to assess the situation on ground and meet with the provincial authority on the security of Nigerians in that province.

She said, “The Nigerian mission in South Africa is on top of the situation. We are working hard to protect Nigerians in South Africa.

“Though the task has not been easy but we are trying our best. In one of the hot spots at Jeppe, near Johannesburg, the mission assisted about 50 stranded Nigerians to re-settle.

“I have also visited the site of the attacks in Johannesburg to assess the damage and it was enormous.”

She said the Nigerian mission would meet with the Nigerian union chapters in the nine provinces of South Africa to devise means of checking further attacks.

“I am bringing all Nigerians together so that we work out a vigilance and alert mechanism; they will also tell me what their challenges and issues are,’’ she said.

Okeke said the mission and the Nigerian Union had been working together to meet the challenges caused by the xenophobic attacks on Nigerians.