…as FG delegation embark on fact-finding mission to S/Africa
Concerned members of the House of Representatives on Tuesday emphasised the need for immediate review of Nigeria’s foreign policy and extant laws in the bid to end the xenophobic attacks on Nigerians in Diaspora.
Rita Orji, chairperson, House Committee on Diaspora Matters who gave the charge during a chat with Legislative Correspondents, condemned the continued attacks and killings of innocent Nigerians in South Africa.
Orji who doubles as member of the Federal Government’s delegation to South Africa, explained that the team will soon embark on fact-finding to Pretoria, South-Africa with the view to determine the level of the attacks and the reasons behind the attacks.
“The delegation is going to ascertain the extent of damage, meet with Nigerians there mostly in that Pretoria, hear their own side of the story, hear it as it affects them, then take a resolution on what to do next,” she explained.
Orji (PDP-Lagos) who called for punitive measures against any country which unleash attacks on other foreigners, called for decisive action by enforcing relevant African Charters on protection of human rights, aimed at ending the inhuman treatment meted against Nigerians across the world.
“Previously, we will only react and call on the government to take decisive action but we find out that saying merely enough is enough in this matter does not work, they will still do it. Remember a dead man is a dead man, you can’t wake him up again when he is gone.
“So, what the National Assembly has done, both the Senate and the House of Representatives including the Presidency, all of us are speaking in the same language right now that enough is enough.
“There are African Charters on protection of human rights. South Africa is part of African Union. AU already has been alerted, human rights already has been brought in, the Committee on Diaspora is not folding hands.
“In National Assembly, all of us have put everything we have together as enabling strength and power vested in us to make sure that this is the end and will never repeat itself.
“It will not only be right try to tell them it is okay, this time around we are working on them, taking responsibility of the damages they have caused. In other words, by the time it will get to certain level where remedies will be quantified and there must be payment for the damages so far. But it is not what we will be blowing because procedures are already on, Nigerians should watch and see as we progress.”
On the steps taken so far by Nigerian government, Orji said: “I think we have thrown that matter to the Foreign Affairs Minister because the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs was here with us yesterday (Monday).
“We as members of the National Assembly, we have the legislations, we have our dusted legislations as regards making sure that things are ratified. On the side of government, I am not in the Executive, I am in the Legislature and you can see that we have not closed our eyes since the matter broke up and we are even the ones that started talking about it first before any other comments.
“I am part of government. If I say government has not done well, I am indicting myself, I am part of government. But to every arm of government, the call I am putting across is that every one of us should wake up. They should not be valued only when we hear that they did something wonderful and we applaud them, that is not the issue.
“The issue is that their welfare and protection must come as a priority. Diasporas are not criminals, they are human beings, they are part of us. We cannot generalise because we see some that are doing one thing or the other that is bad, we generalise that all of them are bad.
“They are not, we have the noble ones and we should have the priority of protecting them. We are moving forward to that and I can assure you with the new review of laws in the House, it has given this Committee more powers to act on behalf of Nigerians in Diaspora and that we are doing, we are moving forward.
“In the past, I will say there was a weakness on the part of government because assuming the first one, there was a serious punitive measure that insisted by the Federal Government or any agencies involved or the AU on the South African government, by the time they pay that penalty, honestly, they will be afraid of allowing their people to carry out another attacks on people again.
“But it was just let peace reign and at the end of the day, peace reign. They found out that the first one nothing happened, that is why it is not up to a year, another one started. So, we are not interested in rhetorics where they will say let’s live in peace and harmony and you come here and narrate how Nigeria has helped South Africa.
“When I was in primary school, we contributed money during the apartheid, we paid. The song I learnt when I was young was free Mandela. We were in the primary school and we were shouting that even when we cannot do anything, we were still supporting that South Africa should be free.
“If after freeing them at the end of the day, this us the pay back, Nigeria should know that the sound of the music has changed. So, government should come up and we are up in this matter. Maybe, they are looking at the past that nothing happened when they attacked Nigerians, it is not to be the same this time around I can assured you,” the lawmaker said.
