'We need help' - Nigerians in South Africa cry out

dimeji akinloye

April 25, 2015 6:06 PM

Nigerians in South Africa lost 4.6 million Rand (N84m)to the recent Xenophobic attacks in the country, the Nigeria community there said.

Say no to xenophobia

Nigerians in South Africa lost 4.6 million Rand (N84m)to the recent Xenophonic attacks in the country, the Nigeria community there said.

The President of the Nigerian Union in South Africa, Ikechukwu Anyene, in a telephone interview with NAN on Saturday, April 25, said its figure was arrived at after thorough documentation.

Anyene who spoke from Pretoria said, “the Nigerian Union in South Africa has completed documentation of the losses suffered by Nigerians to xenophobic attacks.

“Nigerians lost more than 4.6 million Rand or N84 million during the attacks.

“A mechanic workshop owned by a Nigerian in Jeppes, near Johannesburg, for example was completely burnt with 11 cars inside it.

“The loss is put at more than one million Rand or N20 million.’

Anyene said the document has been forwarded to the Nigeria’s Consul-General to South Africa, stating that many Nigerians have lost their means of livelihood, so they need urgent support.

“The Consul-General has travelled to Nigeria and we appeal to the Federal Government to do something urgent to assist Nigerians affected by the attacks.

“We have made representations to the Federal government.

“We are also hoping that working with the South African government, there will be ways to compensate the affected Nigerians so as to enable them go back to their normal lives.

“The tension is less now. The South African government has come out in full force to check the attacks,’’ he said.

dimeji akinloye