South Africa Must Compensate Victims, Punish Perpetrators –Basiru, Senate Committee Chairman On Diaspora – TheNigerialawyer

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Diaspora, Non-Governmental
Organisations and Civil Society Organisations, Senator Ajibola
Basiru, speaks to FEMI MAKINDE on incessant attacks on Nigerians
and other foreigners in South Africa among other sundry issues.

What is your view about how Nigerians and other
foreigners are being attacked in South Africa?

The act is condemnable like most people have said and it is a
concern to us that there is a breakdown of law and order in South
Africa. It is the obligation of a state to ensure the security of
lives and property of those residing there, either they are
citizens or foreigners. There appears to be a failure on the part
of the South African government to protect those living in the
country. The other dimension to this is the xenophobic attacks but
whether the attack is xenophobic or not, nobody should be allowed
to take the law into their own hands. So, as it is now the Nigerian
government needs to engage the South African government that it
must fulfil its obligations under international law to ensure the
safety of lives within its territory. There have been attacks
against Nigerians in the past and it appears that there have not
been serious efforts to bring the attackers to book to serve as a
deterrent to others. It is very important for the Nigerian
government to insist that this is about law and order and that the
perpetrators must be brought to justice. If Nigerians are culpable
in any regard, resorting to self-help and attacking them is not the
civilised thing to do. We think that the Nigerian government will
insist that the legal rights of its citizens and all other Africans
in the country will be respected and that they should be allowed to
live peacefully and their lives are not put in danger under any
guise in South Africa.

Do you agree with the claims that the xenophobic attacks have
the tacit approval of the South African government?

I don’t believe this and I know that it will be irresponsible of
any government to set its citizens against the citizens of other
countries. I know that cannot be their policy but what is apparent
is that there is a failure on the part of the South African
government to fulfil its obligations of maintaining law and order
in its society. What is of concern is that it appears the
insecurity in South Africa is also symptomatic of the xenophobic
attack. If you have law and order in a society, such incidents will
not be occurring without efforts by the government to arrest the
situation but I don’t believe that it is a state policy to set
South Africans against foreign nationals in the country. I think
President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa is somebody, who is well
grounded and he knows the implications of having a diplomatic row
with a country like Nigeria.

Should compensation be paid to the victims of these
attacks?

Of course yes. Compensation should be paid to the families of
those killed, those maimed should also be compensated as well as
those whose properties and businesses were destroyed. It can’t be
put to question and in order to atone for what has happened,
compensation should be paid. If people laboured for years to build
houses or businesses and such now come under reckless attacks, then
the victims deserve to be compensated. Compensation is one of the
things that must be put on the table by the Nigerian government and
they must insist that it must be paid. Another important thing is
that there must be deterrent, the perpetrators must be apprehended.
This is important if only to serve as a deterrent to others and to
show that South Africans are not in sync with those reckless
persons that took the law into their own hands. The government
must, apart from paying compensation, invoke its criminal justice
system to deal with such people and to ensure that whoever is found
culpable is brought to justice.

Why do you think the African Union has been silent on
the xenophobic attack in South Africa?

I think it is symptomatic of the challenge of the AU itself as
an entity. When it was Organisation for African Unity, it used to
be said that the OAU could only bark but not bite. But it appears
that the African Union can neither bark nor bite and this is
unfortunate. It is unfortunate because this issue borders on
security. South Africa is a multi-ethnic and multi-racial society
and it has within its territory a large number of nationals of
other African countries and the number of Nigerians in the country
is put at about 800,000 people, and that is a large number. If you
now have the families of such people taking the law into their own
hands against South Africans in their country, it will not augur
well for their security and stability. I thought the African Union
should have been at the forefront of ensuring that the actions are
documented and remediation is requested from the South African
government.

How has the Nigerian government reacted to the situation
so far?

So far, the actions of the Nigerian government are okay and they
are the things expected from any civilised government. I do not
agree with what some people are saying because a government cannot
take actions based on emotions. You have to look at the Principle
of Reciprocity in international law and also ensure that whatever
measures being taken will be beneficial to Nigerians especially
those of them who are in South Africa. I am aware that we have a
large number of intellectuals in that country and scholars as well
as professionals in almost all facets of life in that country. I
believe that the steps taken so far about boycotting the World
Economic Forum in South Africa and some other things including
considering a recall of the High Commissioner to South Africa will
make South Africa know that Nigeria is not treating the issue with
kid’s gloves this time round.

But you cannot talk about economic sanctions without looking at
what will be the implication even on our economy. We also have
investments in some of the businesses owned by South Africans. We
cannot go to the era of the Cold War where people just talk of
economic sanctions. Nigerians have large investments in South
Africa as well. They have investments in the real estate sector and
other sectors of their economy. It is not a clear cut thing. It
will be hasty to be talking about economic sanctions or
nationalising the companies at this time.

Will you say the actions taken by the Nigerian
government against the attacks on its nationals not coming too
late?

It is not too late. The President of the Senate, Senator Ahmed
Lawan, met with the South African High Commissioner to Nigeria in
July and August this year to raise this issue. Also, when the
Minister of Foreign Affairs appears before the Ninth Senate for
screening, he explained the various steps that the government had
taken before that time. Concerning the killing of a businessman in
South African some weeks ago, there was an arrest of four policemen
in the country for murder. I am aware that steps should be taken
but they must be taken in such a way that it will not negatively
affect the relationship between the two countries and even our
people in South Africa.

There is this belief that Nigerians troop abroad because
our economy is in a bad shape. Do you think this is the
reason?

That is a very ridiculous and laughable claim. All over the
world, people travel for many reasons. There are Americans in
Nigeria, there are Canadians here, Chinese are here and nationals
of countries with very good economies. Are we saying they came here
because their countries are not good? I agree that we need to fix
our infrastructure and make our country work, but many countries
train their nationals and they travel out and send remittances to
their home countries. So, it is ridiculous to say that Nigerians
travel abroad because the country has its challenges.

As a senator from the South-West of this country, how do
you view the government’s efforts to tackle insecurity in the
region?

From the point of conception, I think they are going to achieve
their aim but it depends on implementation. The efforts are
commendable. The idea that there will be collaboration among
security forces and that there will be a joint patrol of major
highways in the South-West, as well as the involvement of the
South-West governors to establish the Western Nigeria Security
Network which has been approved by the Office of the National
Security Adviser, is laudable. These are all efforts that are
commendable but beyond these, there are so many issues that should
be addressed to tackle this insecurity issue. You can’t have
centralised police in a country like Nigeria. Secondly, there is a
shortage of personnel in the police force. The total number of all
our security personnel put together is said to be less than a
million in a country with a population of between 180 and 200
million people. You also talk about intelligence gathering and the
capabilities of our security agencies. Also, the lack of an
adequate supply of electricity is a major problem in tackling
security challenges. Our land tenure system is another problem
because when you travel on the road, after the last house in any
town, you will see a large expanse of land that is not cultivated.
These are the places where criminals use as their hideouts. Lands
are left fallow without anybody putting them to productive use.

Do you support the establishment of state police to
tackle security challenges in the country?

Yes of course. There are compelling reasons to consider state
police to tackle insecurity in the country. The only argument
against state police is that there is a propensity for it to be
used to oppress the opposition. To guide against this, there must
be the rule of law in place and the independence of the judiciary.
Even the federal police is a veritable instrument for oppression.
For me, in the interest of security, there is an urgent need for
state police in Nigeria.

How will the lack of an adequate supply of electricity
affect security?

I have had the opportunity of travelling to other countries and
I know that there is a connection between an adequate supply of
electricity and security. It will be difficult for criminals to
operate even at night if the roads are well illuminated. Absence of
electricity is a problem and devices like closed-circuit cameras
cannot do much without power supply. The question of power needs to
be sorted out in order to effectively tackle the insecurity problem
in Nigeria. Our highways should be lighted to enable people to
travel without fear. This will even have a positive effect on our
productivity as a nation because people will be able to travel at
any time of the day without being afraid.

Culled from Punch