Nigerian Students Vows To Shutdown MTN, Shoprite Over Xenophobic Attacks On Nigerians In South Africa

Published: July 24, 2019

The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has vowed to shut down South African businesses in Nigeria over the continued attacks on Nigerians living in South Africa.

A copy of notification letter dated 22nd July 2019, which was signed by the National Director of Sports (NANS), Mr Anthony Ojiaku, and addressed to some South African businesses in Nigeria, revealed that the students would Wednesday morning shut the MTN office in Awka.

The letter, which was copied to the State Director, Department of State Services, DSS, and the state Police Commissioner, read in part:

“We wish to introduce to you the National Association of Nigeria Student (NANS), the umbrella body of Nigerian students studying both at home and the Diaspora with a strength of 40.1 million students.

“We are poised to protecting the rights and interest of Nigerian Students and her citizens.
“We write to you on the need to conform with the marching order given by the national secretariat of NANS that all South African businesses in Nigeria should vacate Nigeria as a result of the continued xenophobic attack on Nigerians living in South Africa and the killing of Mrs Elizabeth Ndubuisi-Chukwu, Deputy Director-General of Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria at Emperor Palace Hotel, Johannesburg in June.”

The group said the organizations must note that their safety are not guaranteed if they failed to comply, while adding that South African youths who engage in xenophobic killings had no monopoly to violence as the group would not continue to watch while its citizens were killed in that country.

A source, within the association, said they had slated Wednesday to shut down the MTN office in Awka, while on Thursday, it would move to Onitsha where it would equally shut down another South African business concern; Shoprite.