The House of
Representatives, yesterday condemned the ill-treatment and
discrimination against Nigerians living in South Africa, stressing that
at least more than 409 were currently serving jail terms in the country.
Chairman of the
House Committee on Diaspora, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, disclosed this in a
statement issued after the committee’s visit to two prisons 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.
During her
interaction with some inmates, the lawmaker explained that some of them
confessed that they had been denied their freedom, despite completing
their jail terms.
“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.
Abike said
“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,” culled
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