A former Minister of State for Interior, Chief Demola Seriki, has urged the Federal Government not to treat with kid gloves, the harassment of Nigerians in South Africa.
He added that the Federal Government must reciprocate the unfriendly gesture of South Africa.
Seriki, who is a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, said this in an interview with our correspondent on Wednesday while reacting to the killing of some Nigerians in South Africa.
He said South Africa had always been unfriendly towards Nigeria despite that many South African countries were allowed to freely operate in Nigeria without any harassment.
He said, “The issue with Africa is a recurring decimal. When I was in government, the problem was there. The diplomatic row with South Africa is not something new.
“I remember a conversation between myself and the then Minister of the Interior in South Africa. We had an altercation because they are so biased towards Nigeria and Nigeria is not the same.
“I think we need to develop a strong reciprocity paper, which is already there, but we need to implement it.
“For example, in South Africa, if you buy a house, as a Nigerian, you cannot sell it and if you sell it, the money must remain in South Africa. You must look for a South African to buy that house and you can’t take the money out. We need to do the same thing to them here.
“They have large investments in Nigeria such as MTN, DSTV and Protea Hotel and Nigeria is probably the number one consumer of South African wines. So, we need to do more in the area of reciprocity.
“When Ambassador Buba Marwa was in South Africa, he used to come to my office to complain. He showed me pictures of Nigerians, who were brutalised without trial and the South African government has failed to protect Nigerians.”
Seriki, who also served as the Minister of State for Defence under former President Umaru Yar’Adua, said insecurity in Nigeria had led to diplomatic row with other countries.
