From Joshua Matthew, South Africa.
\nAs federal lawmakers of the House of Representatives, led by House Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, head for South Africa, Nigerian residents have put together a list of where they should go, who they should see, and what they should say while in the country.
\nSouth Africans in recent weeks have unleashed a series of xenophobic attacks on foreigners, especially Nigerians and other blacks.
\nPresidential Senior Special Assistant on Foreign Affairs, Mrs. Abike Dabiri and the Senate have hinted at retaliatory measures against South Africa and its interests in Nigeria.
\nOne of those interests, mobile telecoms giant, MTN, had its prime customers relations office in Asokoro attacked, while a group of Niger Delta militants threatened fire and brimstone against South African outlets in the country.
\nBut Tuesday, residents advised visiting lawmakers to ensure they meet opposition figure, Julius Malema, because of seeming positive comments he had made about Nigeria and Nigerians in the past.
\nHe was quoted as saying: ” I am like a Nigerian to the white people. By the way Nigerians speak, they sound as if they are rude but actually they are not rude, but emphatic. Nigerians are people who know what they want.”
\nOther suggestions they gave on the proposed visit are:
\n\u25cf Their visit shouldn’t be to President Jacob Zuma and his ANC led administration. \u00a0It should not be a visit to the South African establishment.
\n\u25cfOur legislators should visit and be allowed to address the parliament at Cape Town. In the parliament, different political parties are represented.
\n\u25cfAt the parliament, they should give a historic and factual address about Nigeria’s role in th struggle to end apartheid.
\n\u25cfThey should register their anger, frustration and disappointment at the xenophobic attacks on all foreigners, especially Nigerians and other Africans.
\n\u25cfAt the Parliament, there are opposition parties like DA and EFF who will amplify their lament and voice.
\n\u25cfThey should pay a courtesy visit to President Zuma’s main opposition leader, Julius Malema who was once quoted saying, “I am like a Nigerian to the white people. By the way Nigerians speak, they sound as if they are rude but actually they are not rude, but emphatic. Nigerians are people who know what they want.
\n\u25cfThey should visit and address Nigerians at the Nigerian Consulate. They should hear Nigerians as they express their plight. They should caution Nigerians to be good ambassadors in South Africa.
\n\u25cf They must tell those on illegal stay without visa to return home to Nigeria. \u25cf
\n\u25cfThey should encourage rich business Nigerians to also remember to invest at home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
From Joshua Matthew, South Africa. As federal lawmakers of the House of Representatives, led by House Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, head for South Africa, Nigerian residents have put together a list of where they should go, who they should see, and what they should say while in the country. South Africans in recent weeks have unleashed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":1113,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1110\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}