The Federal Government says it has not received any formal request from South Africa to reimburse the cost of repatriating Nigerians and other migrants from the country.
The clarification followed reports that South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs had written to Nigeria, Malawi and Ethiopia seeking reimbursement for part of the R292.77 million, about $18 million, spent on accommodating and transporting deportees and voluntary returnees.
Speaking on the issue, the spokesperson for Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kimiebi Ebienfa, said the government had received no such document.
“It is not true, we have not received any document to that effect,” Ebienfa said.
He also said Nigeria had yet to receive a response from South Africa to its request for compensation for Nigerians who were forced to leave businesses and property behind amid anti-immigrant tensions.
Nigeria’s Consul General in South Africa, Ninikanwa Okey-Uche, confirmed that no reimbursement demand had been communicated to the Nigerian mission in Pretoria.
The reported South African request came after Home Affairs Director-General Tommy Makhode told Parliament that the department spent R292 million on the repatriation operation, far above its R60 million budget for deportations this year.
South African authorities said the money covered transportation, temporary accommodation and other costs linked to returning migrants to their home countries.
The country has intensified immigration enforcement amid renewed anti-immigrant sentiment and protests.
Nigeria, meanwhile, has been involved in a voluntary repatriation programme for citizens who want to return home.
In June, Nigeria said more than 1,000 citizens had registered for voluntary return from South Africa following renewed anti-immigrant attacks.
Nigeria’s Acting High Commissioner to South Africa, Alexander Ajayi, had also said the government would seek compensation for businesses and property abandoned by returning Nigerians.
The latest development leaves the reported South African reimbursement request unacknowledged by Nigerian authorities.
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