TheCable

The federal government has summoned  Bobby Monroe, South Africa’s high commissioner to Nigeria, over the recent xenophobic attacks on Nigerians in that country.

The ministry of foreign affairs disclosed this in a message on Tuesday.

”I am directed to inform you that the Minister of Foreign Affairs has summoned the High Commissioner of South Africa for a meeting this morning by 11. The meeting was confirmed a few minutes ago,” it read.

On Monday, Geoffrey Onyeama, minister of foreign affairs, said Nigerian shops in South Africa were being looted and burnt by mindless criminals with ineffective police protection.

In a tweet, the minister described the constant negative reports about the treatment of Nigerians in South Africa as “sickening”.

He said the federal government would take needed steps to curb the situation.

“Received sickening and depressing news of continued burning and looting of Nigerian shops and premises in #SouthAfrica by mindless criminals with ineffective police protection. Enough is enough. We will take definitive measures,” he tweeted.

Nigerians have been serially targeted for attacks in South Africa.

In August, President Muhammadu Buhari met with Cyril Ramaphosa, South African president, on the sidelines of the Tokyo international conference on African development in Japan.

Ramaphosa decried the protracted attacks on Nigerian citizens and promised that the security agents were working to stop the menace.

But a few days after the meeting, South Africans poured into the streets attacking foreigners and destroying their property – with Nigerians as specific targets.