Nigeria said on Wednesday, 1 July 2026, that it will seek compensation from South Africa for citizens who abandoned businesses, homes and vehicles while fleeing the recent wave of anti-immigration protests.
The demand follows weeks of unrest in which more than 600 Nigerians have already been evacuated, with hundreds more expected to leave, as reported by Vanguard.
The acting Nigerian High Commissioner to South Africa, Alexander Ajayi, said officials had begun compiling records of the property left behind by returnees before any formal claim is lodged.
What Nigeria’s compensation claim against South Africa involves
Ajayi said returnees had been told to document every asset accurately, from shops and stock to cars and houses, so the government can pinpoint each location before it approaches Pretoria.
He framed the exercise as a matter of protecting years of accumulated labour rather than a purely diplomatic gesture.
“We are going to systematically follow up on the information given to us, and I told them to be very accurate with what they are going to give because we are going to work with the South African government to get to the exact locations of all these businesses, shops and properties and present them to the South African government for possible compensation because we will not allow the labour people have suffered to build over the years to just go down the drain or be taken over by people,” Ajayi said.
The evacuation has been carried out in stages, with the latest government flight bringing dozens more returnees back to Lagos.
Officials say the total number who have left South Africa has climbed past 600 since the operation began earlier in June, and further flights are being arranged.
The protests that prompted the exodus swept across South Africa in late June 2026, when roughly 900 people were arrested during nationwide anti-immigration marches that Swisher Post covered as they unfolded.
Most demonstrations were peaceful, though several tipped into looting and violence that left foreign-owned businesses exposed.
What happens next in the compensation dispute
The claim now moves into formal diplomatic territory. Nigerian officials say they have opened talks with South Africa’s deputy finance minister and will verify each documented asset before submitting a schedule of losses for consideration by the authorities in Pretoria.
South Africa’s government has not yet responded publicly to the demand. Whether Pretoria entertains the claim, disputes it or opens negotiations will shape relations between the continent’s two largest economies through the second half of the year, as thousands of displaced traders wait to learn whether they will recover anything.
