Once again, our so called leaders have demonstrated that they don’t care about us and that our lives worth nothing. The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Khadija Bukar Abba Ibrahim lackadaisical response to the joint committee of the Senate and House of Representatives on Foreign Affairs over the xenophobia attacks on Nigerians and other nationals is a clear indication that no premium or value is given to our lives.
Reading from a prepared address, the minister to the committee, “We spoke with our High Commissioner today (yesterday) and it has been confirmed that no Nigerian was killed. All the information we have are from the High Commissioner who had visited the victims of the attacks.”
With sheer levity and triviality, she said a high powered delegation of the Federal Government would soon be dispatched to South Africa to assess the situation and find a means to put an end to the xenophobic attacks. The question is when is this delegation going to South Africa?
The members of the committee one after another expressed their disappointment in the shoddy and carefree approach of the government on the issue.
While Nigerians are been hacked like a chicken with their properties looted or burnt, the government is still without a clue on what it can do to save its citizens only for a minister to give flimsy and baseless excuses. Perhaps, the minister and her high powered delegation will visit South Africa when corpses of Nigerians start arriving home.
The federal government should know it’s high time it stopped treating this issue with kid gloves, we need to hit the South African very hard diplomatically. And we must seek and ensure adequate compensation for those who are killed or lost their properties.
Its time we tell the world Nigerian lives matter.
