The Federal Government has denied receiving any formal request from the South African government seeking reimbursement for expenses incurred in repatriating Nigerians and other migrants from South Africa.
The clarification follows reports that South Africa’s Department of Home Affairs informed Parliament that it had written to Nigeria, Malawi and Ethiopia requesting partial reimbursement for the R292.77 million (about $18 million) spent on accommodating, transporting and processing deportees and voluntary returnees.
Reacting to the claim, the spokesperson for Nigeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kimiebi Ebienfa, said no such communication had been received by the ministry.
“It is not true, we have not received any document to that effect,” Ebienfa said.
When asked whether South Africa had responded to Nigeria’s own request for compensation for Nigerians allegedly forced to leave the country, he said no response had been received.
Nigeria’s Consul General in South Africa, Ninikanwa Okey-Uche, also denied that any demand for reimbursement had been communicated to the Nigerian mission in Pretoria.
The controversy emerged after Home Affairs Director-General Tommy Makhode appeared before South Africa’s Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs and disclosed that the department had spent far more than its approved deportation budget.
According to Makhode, the department spent R292 million on the operation, significantly above the R60 million allocated for deportations this year.
He described the expenditure as “unforeseen, unavoidable and an unfunded mandate” and said the existing legislative framework did not adequately provide for the scale of the repatriation exercise.
Makhode told lawmakers that South Africa had sought reimbursement through diplomatic channels.
“We have also written to the governments of Malawi, and, of course, the embassies of Nigeria and Ethiopia to request for reimbursements of these costs through the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, DIRCO,” he said.
He added:
“We are expecting responses from those governments.”
According to the South African official, most of the money was spent on hiring buses to transport migrants, operating temporary repatriation centres, and paying overtime allowances to staff involved in the exercise.
He further disclosed that some municipalities and government departments that assisted with the operation are also seeking reimbursement from the Department of Home Affairs.
The Federal Government’s denial suggests that, at least for now, no official reimbursement request has reached Abuja through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or Nigeria’s diplomatic mission in South Africa, despite the South African government’s statement that such letters had been sent through diplomatic channels.
The development comes amid ongoing discussions between Nigeria and South Africa on migration issues, the treatment of Nigerian citizens in South Africa, and broader bilateral relations between the two African countries.
