This is, of course, not the best of time for a section of the estimated 15 million Nigerians who reside abroad. This is because, apart from the fact that some of them have been passing through self-inflicted ordeals, many are truly victims of xenophobic attacks by the citizens and the governments of their host countries. For instance, the tales brought home by those Nigerians recently deported from Libya have been those of woes – rape, forced labour, forceful prostitution, modern slavery and physical attacks. Forty-three Nigerians were also on February 23, deported from Europe to Nigeria. While Nigeria is still awaiting more deportees from Libya as reported by the Nigerian media, then came the bad news report (The Nation of Sunday, February 19, P.5)that, “businesses operated by Nigerians came under attacks by South Africans in Pretoria West of the country. According to Ikechukwu Anyere, President, Nigerian Union in South Africa as quoted in the report, “as we speak, five buildings with Nigerian businesses, including a church have been looted and burned by South Africans”. “One of the buildings , a mechanic garage with 28 cars under repairs, with other vital documents, were burned during the attacks”.
As a phenomenon of hate, xenophobia is the hurling of anger, fear and hatred towards foreign objects or people in a country; at its extreme, it entails killing of aliens. Indeed, xenophobia is not an eerie phenomenon in human relations even in global context for it has manifested in numerous parts of the world under different guises and circumstances. The anti-blacks antics of the Ku Klux Klan in the USA; the incident of Japanese internment camps in the USA during the World War II which culminated in the inhumation of thousands of Japanese-Americans; the killing of over six million Jews by the Nazi government in Germany between 1941 and 1945; and the killing of nationals, such as the Poles and Gypsies during the Third Rich in Germany among others, are clear manifestations of xenophobia.
The xenophobic attack of February 18 in South Africa was of course not the first of its kind in recent times in that country. It will be recalled that in April 2015, large scale attacks were targeted at African immigrants from countries such as Nigeria, Mozambique, Somalia, Malawi and the Democratic Republic of Congo. It was reportedly provoked by the lamentation of Zulu King, Goodwill Zwalithini that foreigners were making life difficult for South Africans as they had taken over the South African economy. In that incident, the News Agency of Nigeria reported that, apart from lives, Nigerians lost properties valued at about 1.2million rand (about N21million then). Several other incidents of xenophobic attack had earlier been recorded in the country between 1995 and 2006.
Traced to racial discrimination which prevailed in the country in apartheid years between 1948-1994, xenophobia today, has assumed the national character of the South African state. According to a study based on a citizen survey across member states of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) published by the South African Migration Projects (SAMP), South Africans have been found to hold the most intense anti-foreigner sentiment, with 21% disposing to complete ban of entry by foreigners and 64% expressing preference for imposition of stringent conditions for foreigners to be granted “entry visas” into the country. The germane question at this juncture is this: what are the underlining causes of this attitude of hate towards aliens particularly towards fellow Africans, by South Africans?
The undercurrents of this attitude of no love lost, range from the serious to the unserious, though with very serious consequences too. According to a report of the Human Sciences Research Council, xenophobia in South Africa can be hinged and blamed on the quartet of: relative deprivation of South Africans allegedly caused by the aliens in the country which is a consequence of keen competition for jobs and social facilities; group processes, including psychological categorization processes that are nationalistic rather than superordinate; South African exceptionalism, or a feeling of superiority in relation to other Africans and exclusive citizenship or a form of nationalism that excludes others. Prominent among the frivolous ones though with equally damaging consequences is the competition between South African young men and other rich African young men especially Nigerians, over South African girls, a game in which Nigerians have been adjudged winsome because of their munificence.
Indeed, the challenge of xenophobia has far reaching implications not only for the development and standing of South Africa in Africa and in the world at large, but also for the lofty goals of integrating the continent of Africa and promoting sustainable development. For example, in a paper presented by Professor Akinsola Alaba Agagu and I, on: “The Challenges of Xenophobia and Terrorism for the Development of Higher Education in Africa” , at a Conference held in the 95-year-old University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2015, we had raised the sobering alarm that, following incessant incident of xenophobic attacks in South Africa, the image being created for the country to the outside world is that of a state that is hostile to foreigners. This we observed might discourage fellow Africans to gravitate to South Africa for the pursuit of any form of socio-economic activities including higher education. This being so, the cross fertilization of ideas and values which ought to occur through cross-border seminars, workshops and conferences among other web of interactions , may be slowed down. Besides, as xenophobia is also against the philosophical underpinning of the concept and processes of African Union, proper integration of the continent cannot of course take place in an atmosphere of hate.
Let it therefore, be said that , the South African authority should realize that other African countries also have the capacity to retaliate. Should this be done, South African economic interest and of course the interests of the countries hosting South African investments will be in jeopardy. Thus both ways, the continent is the loser.
If this growing wave of xenophobic attacks is not arrested, it may constitute a major setback on the parts of higher education institutions in Africa to provide common front in strengthening themselves in capacity building as well as solving the continent’s sustainable development challenges. As the emergence and growth of xenophobia is largely attributable to perpetuation of relative deprivation and misrule by many African leaders, it is recommended that African leaders embark on restorative justice; cultivation of liberal political attitude; eschew politics of winner takes all; creation of empowerment and employment opportunities for the teeming jobless youths and enthroning social security system to mitigate the problem of acute poverty. In addition, genuine Africa leaders must frontally fight corruption. Successful war against corruption will certainly free more resources to the states which can be used to promote development and reduce poverty and by extension stem the tide of violent actions. Furthermore, it is also imperative for African regional and continental bodies like the African Union, the Economic Community of West African States and the Southern African Development Community to use their platforms to evolve mechanisms which can enhance the African philosophy of “be your brother’s keeper”. African governments should re-orientate their citizens that humanity is one. We are all one in the family of souls. If Africans do condemn Europeans discrimination against Africans, discrimination among Africans should therefore be unjustifiable under any condition or circumstance. As a book of life has asserted, anybody who says a man’s place of birth is necessarily the only place he must earn a living, is guilty of war. True it is that, the reality of African politics is ethnic struggle, however, it is high time our ethno-political relations are tempered with love and sense of oneness.
•Dr. Adebisi is of Federal College of Agriculture, Akure, Ondo State.
