By Rafiu Ajakaye
LAGOS
Many believe that Nigeria which, too, in the past had a problem with foreign immigrants, must draw listens from the recent anti-immigrant attacks in South Africa.
Experts say the government must urgently address the challenges of poverty, poor healthcare and the lack of basic infrastructure to discourage brain drain and the migration of its citizens overseas.
"South Africans are indirectly telling us to fix our problems," Austin Umoh, a teacher at Lagos State University, told The Anadolu Agency.
"Nobody with a good job and guarantees of basic amenities – like electricity – will travel to another country where he is a second-class citizen," he asserted.
In recent weeks, South Africa has seen mounting anti-immigrant violence that has mostly targeted migrants from other African countries.
The violence began earlier this month in Durban, where mobs descended on the homes and shops of a number of African migrants, including Nigerians.
The victims were accused of stealing jobs from native South Africans, committing crimes, and putting a burden on the country's social services.
At least seven people, including three South Africans, have been killed so far in the violence, which has since spread to parts of Johannesburg, South Africa's largest city.
The violence has forced scores of migrants to leave South Africa.
"There are a lot of lessons for Nigeria," Otive Igbuzor, executive director of the African Center for Leadership Strategy and Development, told AA.
"Since returning to civil rule in 1999, the economic growth rate has been phenomenal at between 6 and 8 percent," he boasted.
"But this growth has been largely jobless, with increasing poverty and concentration of wealth in the hands of a few," lamented Igbuzor.
Igbuzor, who has headed several nonprofit development groups, said many Nigerians currently living abroad wanted to return, but were scared of the country's socio-economic realities.
"But the government needs to provide an enabling environment for that to happen," he said, stressing that Nigeria's leaders had to provide security and an effective justice system, among other things.
"The new administration [of President-elect Muhamadu Buhari] has much to do. Effective domestic policy is the springboard of good foreign policy," said the expert.
Buhari, a former military ruler, defeated incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan in March 28 polls.
He will be formally inaugurated on May 29 in line with a tradition begun in 1999, when Nigeria's military handed power over to a civilian administration following decades of military rule.
Buhari's All Progressive Congress (APC) currently rules 22 of Nigeria's 36 regional states.
It also enjoys a majority in both houses of parliament.
"The new Buhari administration offers an opportunity for a policy shift to ensure diversification of the economy, inclusive growth and industrialization," Igbuzor told AA.
He added: "All government policies must be structured to benefit the poor – who are the majority of the population – not the rich."
Similar
"Ghana-must-go," a polythene bag available in various sizes, is a prominent feature of long-distance travel and shopping in Nigeria.
The bag is named after the exodus, 32 years ago, of more than one million Ghanaian nationals from Nigeria, recalling the heavy loads they carried with them to Accra.
As Nigeria's relations with South Africa sank to a new low over the weekend over the anti-immigrant attacks, some are drawing parallels between the "Ghana-must-go" saga and the recent spate of attacks in South Africa.
Tolu Ogunlesi, a prominent blogger and social media activist, provoked debate on social media earlier this week when he asked Nigerians to tone down their criticisms of South Africans.
According to him, Nigeria, too, was once guilty of similar conduct.
But others disagree.
"There is no basis for comparison between what is happening in South Africa and the 'Ghana-must-go' incident," Abdullahi Tijani, a teacher at Bayero University Kano, told AA.
"There were protests against illegal aliens and the nuisance many of them were causing," he said.
From petty trade and artwork to alleged prostitution and menial jobs, Ghanaian nationals were in a different segment of the Nigerian economy at a time when locals faced the harsh realities of what analysts call the "profligacy" of previous governments.
In 1983, the government of President Shehu Shagari – faced with pressure to rid the country of "illegal aliens" – ordered all Ghanaian nationals to leave.
That incident appeared to be payback for Ghana, which in 1969 had expelled some Nigerians, hurting the two countries' ties.
Nigeria had said at the time that no retaliation had been intended.
"Nobody went out of their way to attack Ghanaians," Tijani said. "What is happening in South Africa is not acceptable."
He suggests that the 1983 incident pushed the Ghanaian government to do better for its people.
"And so must Nigeria, even though the xenophobic attacks [in South Africa] and the 'Ghana-must-go' are two separate incidents," Tijani told AA.
Igbuzor, for his part, also sees no grounds for comparison between what happened in Nigeria and what happened in South Africa.
"In 1983, the Nigerian government was dealing with the influx of illegal aliens into Nigeria. The illegal aliens were rounded up and deported," he told AA.
"Poor South Africans are killing their fellow Africans because they claim they are taking their jobs and marrying their women," Igbuzor noted.
He blamed the crisis on the South African government.
"The basic problem is failure of leadership and failure of the government's black economic empowerment program since the fall of apartheid," he said.
Igbuzor quoted one South African lawmaker as saying recently that South Africa had the unenviable distinction of having the least equitable society in the world.
"While other unequal societies – like Brazil – were implementing policies that have narrowed the gap, South Africa continues with policies that concentrate wealth in the hands of a few," he said.
