The Federal Government has warned Ghana and Togo over the continued attacks on Nigerians in the countries, saying it was no longer tolerable.
This is as it also warned Nigerians to be good ambassadors anywhere they might find themselves in the world.
The Chairman of the Nigerian Diaspora Commission, NIDCOM, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, made this known while addressing journalists at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
She made the disclosure shortly after she met with President Muhammadu Buhari.
She said already, the ambassadors of the two countries in Nigeria had been met and they had given assurances that Nigerians would be protected in their countries.
According to her, the life of every Nigerian was important and the countries should protect them as they did those of their nationals.
Her words: “Right now, we are dealing with the issue of attacking Nigerian traders in Ghana. We have the assurances of the President of Ghana through the high commission here and ours in Ghana that Nigerian traders will be protected.
“So we are also going to be emphasizing that the life of one Nigerian means a lot to us anywhere in the world.
“Of course we have the issue of Ghana, the professor whose appointment was terminated by his university because of the tape he released. Well, it turned out that he didn’t actually record, I mean that was a private meeting with Nigerians in Ghana, it was like a private discussion.
“And he also claimed that part of the tape was actually doctored. The matter is being looked into by the Nigeria high commission in Ghana and I believed those matters will be resolved subsequently.”
She said further: “We have also seen the Togolese ambassador and made it clear that the lives of Nigerians must be protected anywhere they are because we take care of others here and we deserve to be taken care of.
“If a Nigerian commits a crime, let him pay the penalty for it as a punishment, but you cannot penalise a nation and its citizens.
“So we will be working more on that as we appeal to Nigerians to be good ambassadors wherever they find themselves.”
She said on the case of vandalism in the UK, she said there would be a stakeholders meeting between the Nigerian community in the UK, the high commission, and the immigration unit.
She added: “We will be engaging more with the diaspora. Subsequently, we are going to have hotlines for Nigerians in diaspora so that they can contact the commission and we can look into whatever challenges they are facing.”
