Special Assistant to President Buhari on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora, Abike Dabiri-Erewa has said that the xenophobic attacks on Nigerians in South Africa was driven by hate speech and misinformation by South African politicians.
Abike was speaking during a television programme: ‘The Osasu Show’, and pointed out that politicians fueled the attack by telling their citizens that foreigners, including Nigerians, were taking their women and jobs.
She said, “These attacks happened in the past and this is the seventh time. The last one was in 2015… the king of Zulu made some remarks that were inciting, that led to the last attack.
“This particular one, fine, there are economic issues everywhere in the world. Politicians are campaigning and telling their people, ‘you know what, drive these criminals away, they are taking your jobs, and they are taking your women too.”
She advised South African companies operating in Nigeria to do more to educate their people on the need to stop attacks on Nigerians.
She noted that MTN, DStv and other South African companies could initiate a campaign against xenophobia by educating citizens in the former apartheid enclave.
“Imagine MTN sending text messages to everyone in South Africa, saying Xenophobia is bad, don’t do this and that. They should embark on some corporate social responsibility.
“Those multinationals should get up and do something. DStv should be doing various jingles on why xenophobia is bad, they should take over the awareness campaign,” she stated.
Source: Daily Post