Nigeria wants N84 million damages from South Africa over xenophobic attacks

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Aminu Wali, in Abuja, said the Nigerian government will demand N84 million from South Africa to pay victims of xenophobic attacks.

Wali, who stated this while briefing the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs on his visit to South Africa on Tuesday said the attacks were instigated by some chiefs to kill Nigerians in their country.

He, however, noted that the South African government was not in support of the killings.

Wali said, “Total of Nigerians wounded or hospitalized is two, shops looted and damaged five, number of displaced Nigerian men is two, number of displaced women six, and number of displaced children eight.

“In terms of these attacks, our situation is minimal and luckily there are no fatalities and there is no serious injury.

“The assessment in terms of the compensation that we intend to now demand from South Africa when we have our next bi-national commission meeting in Abuja is N84 million.”

He also said Nigerians should be ready for evacuation in case the problem intensifies.