409 Nigerian in South Africa prisons for unjustifiable reasons

The Chairman of the House Committee on Diaspora, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has condemned the ill treatment and extreme discrimination against Nigerians in South Africa.

Dabiri-Erewa, representing Ikorodu Federal Constituency in Lagos State, who visited the prisons alongside two members of the committee, Ajibola Famurewa and Umaru Shidanfi, consular officers of the Nigerian Embassy and executives of the Nigerian Union in South Africa, disclosed that over 400,000 Nigerians were currently living in South Africa.

According to her; “The inmates complained of extreme discrimination by the prison authorities in South Africa. The law enforcement officers always maltreat citizens of Nigeria for unjustifiable reasons”.

“Sometimes, the authorities tore into pieces their Nigerian passports among several other allegations and refused to grant them bail, while others from other countries that committed similar bailable offence were granted bail,” she added.