Nigerian Business Leaders Lament ‘Hateful’ Xenophobic Attacks In South Africa

Economy
By Ating Enwongo
Femi-Otedola
Femi Otedola

Following the recent xenophobic attacks on foreigners in South Africa, Nigerian business mogul Femi Otedola  has condemned the menace saying the whole continent  needs to come together to fight the injustice.

In a statement posted on his verified Twitter handle on Wednesday, Otedola said “My heart cries for my Nigerian brothers and sisters who have been senselessly killed in South Africa. I strongly condemn this hateful discrimination and xenophobia. I pray for us to come together as a continent to fight this injustice.”

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On his part, the Chairman of the United Bank Of Africa, Tony Elumelu in an Instagram post said for the continent to attain economic liberation and prosperity it must say no to barbarism and savagery.

Describing the attack as “despicable and pure madness,” the Africapitalist said he was disheartened by the videos and stories floating around social media over xenophobic attacks.

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Africa is such a beautiful and blessed continent and we Africans are our greatest resource. I’ve always known and felt this. As a young man when we started at Standard Trust Bank, banks were still focused on metropolitan areas but we wanted to give opportunity to everyone and create access to financial services for all around the country. So we left the city and we expanded all over Nigeria. @UBAgroup was a one country operation in 2005 when I took over as CEO following the merger but our strategic intent was to do what we did with Standard Trust Bank and expand this time all over Africa bringing excellence in financial services and again – access. And uniting Africa through banking. Today we are in 20 countries and waxing stronger. After I left as CEO of UBA, my sights still set on Africa, I founded the @TonyElumeluFoundation and this time, finally can proudly say today that we are empowering young African men and women in all 54 countries across the continent. The reasons have never changed. I believe in Africa and I believe in Africans. Our greatest threat in Africa is not our fellow African brothers and sisters. It is Poverty! And as I have often said , Poverty anywhere is a threat to all of us everywhere. Let’s not lose sight of our shared destiny. It is only together that we can face our common enemy- Poverty. We need to stop attacking each other but rather embrace one another and work together to uplift our continent and be our brother’s and sister’s protectors wherever we may find ourselves. This is the only way to our economic liberation and prosperity. We must say no to barbarism and savagery. Violently mutilating and killing our brothers & raping our sisters; looting and destroying their livelihoods is evil and un-African and it dehumanizes us all. Instead, we must always seek to elevate, protect and help one another. I am disheartened by the videos and stories floating around social media around these xenophobic attacks! They are despicable and pure madness! #Saynotoxenophobia ! #TOEWay #UnitingAfricaForProgress #Africapitalism

A post shared by Tony O. Elumelu (@tonyoelumelu) on

Also reacting to the development, former Finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, expressed her sympathies to the family of the countrymen who lost their lives in the attack.

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South Africans on Sunday began fresh attacks, looting and burning of properties belonging to foreigners in Johannesburg. In retaliation, Nigerians yesterday  attacked some South Africa-owned businesses in Nigeria.

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