The former president says he’s confident the meeting between President Buhari and Cyril Ramaphosa, next month will yield a positive outcome.

Obasanjo said, “I hope they will go back to the South Africa from what I heard from President Ramaphosa. Like I said, the meeting that President Buhari and President Ramaphosa will have during the first week of October should smooth the ground. And the right statements and the right action coming from both sides should encourage our people to go back.But, as I have always said that Nigerians living outside Nigeria must try to be good citizens of wherever they live. I believe the President of South Africa did the right thing to quickly send emissaries to apologise to the countries that were affected (xenophobic attacks), countries like Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Mozambique and I think this was good.”

President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday September 9, called for the immediate voluntary evacuation of all Nigerians who want to return home.

320 Nigerians are expected to arrive later in the day after boarding the 9a.m flight to Lagos. The second batch will be leaving on Thursday September 12.

Governor Sanwo-Olu disclosed the number of jobs lost during an inspection of some facilities damaged during the protest which was hijacked by hoodlums. He said victims of the attack were indigenous stores and not even South African-owned businesses.

He said: ‘’We have seen the level of destruction at both Novare Plaza and Surulere plaza. The first is to condemn the act that had led to this destruction in strong terms. These are just enormous destruction of property. This is extensive destruction of people’s wealth. Unfortunately, during my inspection of both plazas, I discovered that those affected were all indigenous stores and companies. Even the names that are synonymous with South Africa, I could see that there were over 150 staffs that could not get to perform their duties because of the act. From the evidence shown, we realized that people also jumped in through some nearby properties within the community. All these are unimaginable. But really the lesson learnt from all these were that we all go back and check what are the social implications of what has happened and how can we learn from it. When people come into a store overnight to loot the goods, it is an act that must be condemned. With the act now, over 5000 people are out of job. These are places that Nigerians were the major ones affected.’’

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, on Friday, made this announcement when he appeared before the senate committee on Diaspora at the National Assembly, stating that such decision would not be favourable to Nigerians in South Africa.

Onyeama noted that any attempt by the country to cut diplomatic ties with  South Africa would greatly affect Nigerians and their huge investment there.

He adding that Nigeria would consider other options apart from diplomatic ties severance, to resolve the ongoing crisis.

Meanwhile, the Minister also disclosed that the special envoy President Muhammadu Buhari sent to South Africa would return to the country on Saturday.

He said, “We are not thinking to the stage of diplomatic ties called off. There are various options. We are not by any means at a stage where we are breaking diplomatic relations with South Africa.

“We just met with the senate committee to review the situation with regard to South Africa and we looked at all the possible options we analysed the possible causes and agreed on a road map going forward.”

“Mr. President has dispatched a special envoy to South Africa who would be holding discussions with the South African government at the very highest level.

“He should be back tomorrow (Saturday), that will now give the government the basis for further action. In the meantime, if the government is very much on top of the situation.

“We know for a fact that no Nigerian life has been lost so we are extremely concerned to ensure that there will be adequate compensation for property that have been damaged.

“We know that a Nigerian Airline is putting a plane at the disposal of most Nigerians that wish to take the opportunity to leave South Africa, this is purely voluntary, but we are particularly determined to particularly make sure that this crisis does not re-occur.

“It has been happening for far too long, it’s becoming almost endemic, so with the distinguished senators, are helping with some of the options that we may have to ensure that this will be the last time we will ever be meeting to talk about Nigerians attacked in South Africa and to take definitive measures.

“To start doing that, we want to have all the facts available and then we will take the necessary measures.”

The Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila disclosed this at a press briefing in Abuja.

Gbajabiamila said, “This will allow the government to more accurately demand reparations to compensate our citizens who suffered in this recent orgy of violence. The House of Representatives is ready to authorise legal funding for those citizens who wish to take legal action against identified perpetrators of the violence as well as those who sponsored them or permitted their actions to occur and to continue.

“We recognise that there are many places in the world right now where internal crises and conflicts have made the terrain unsafe for our citizens there.”

He added that the House will be willing to provide supports to people who are willing to help in bringing home Nigerians who are willing to come back home.

“The House of Representatives will work with all the stakeholders within and outside government to evolve and implement a plan to evacuate our people from these places and as much as possible keep them out of harm’s way.

“We must accept that there are at this moment in time several forces converging in different parts of the world, creating seismic events over which we have limited control yet may not entirely escape the worst consequences of.”

According to the Speaker, the House will invite the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama and the Chairman of the Nigerian Diaspora Commission, Abike Dabiri over the Xenophobic attacks in South Africa.

He said the interface with the aforementioned government officials will allow the House to demand repatriation and compensation for those people who suffered losses.

According to the report from Punch, it explained that the acting High Commissioner, Amb. Bobby Moroe, today confirmed that he had directed the Mission to suspend all consular activities until the situation improved, noting that the decision came as a result of the recent attacks on South Africans in parts of the country.

Moroe stated, “I directed that the Mission should be closed until the situation improves. We heard that South Africans were being pulled out of vehicles and attacked. We feel unsafe and that is why I directed that the mission should close down until further notice.”

When told that the police had beefed up security to prevent retaliatory attacks, the envoy said the Mission would remain closed because he did not want to take chances.

Meanwhile, the Federal Capital Territory Minister, Malam Muhammad Bello, has called on the residents of the Territory, especially students and youths, not to carry out retaliatory attacks on South African nationals and business interests in the FCT over the xenophobic attacks on Nigerians in South Africa.

He said that the Federal Government was already exploring diplomatic channels to address the issue, appealing that residents should allow the efforts to succeed.

Bello in a statement further noted that the South African business interests in the FCT were set up in partnership with Nigerian investors and were contributing to the economic development of the city.

“Attacking or vandalising them will ultimately have negative economic consequences for the Nigerian economy and employees of those organisations,” the minister said in the statement by his media aide, Anthony Ogunleye.

He also assured South African nationals and business interests of their safety, adding that it was the pleasure of the Administration to have them living and working in the FCT.

While appealing to residents to remain calm and go about their lawful activities, he warned that law enforcement agencies had been mobilised to forestall any breakdown of law and order and “anybody instigating or participating in any acts of violence or vandalism will face the wrath of the law.”

The statement reads “The retailer is highly concerned about the acts of xenophobic violence against foreign nationals that sporadically flare up and the resultant rhetoric of intolerance that is levelled against foreigners and the platform this creates for criminals to exploit it. As a company with deep African roots who employs thousands of African nationals and works to bring affordable prices to consumers in 15 countries on the continent, we would like to see an end to xenophobia across the continent. Several stores in South Africa, Nigeria and Zambia are today unable to open due to protest action and extensive damage has been done to several supermarkets over the past 24 hours, impacting the lives of millions of law abiding people. We remain committed to engage with Government, industry and consumer groups so that decisive action is taken against those involved in violent crimes and intimidation against foreign nationals as well as to convey our strong position against xenophobia,”