Riyaz Patel
More than 5,000 people are currently out of jobs following attacks on South African-owned business in Nigeria, the governor of Lagos state, Babajide Sanwo-Olu has said.
The attacks were in response to the violence meted out to foreigners in parts of South Africa last week.
He said some of the protesters had broken into outlets owned by South Africans, including Shoprite.
Lagos’ governor visited some of the affected outlets in Ajah and Surulere areas of the state, and decried the consequences of the reprisal action, The Naija Digest reported.
“These are jobs where Nigerians are the ones that have been affected. So, we need to be able to take the lessons out of this, be stronger together and be able to take corrective measures to ensure that things like these should certainly not repeat itself in our community,” Sanwo-Olu said.
“We have seen the amount of enormous destruction in both plazas and the first thing is to condemn in strong terms whatever could have led to this. It is an extensive destruction of people’s property,” Lagos’ Governor said.
“In both malls, over 5,000 people are out of jobs. These are jobs where Nigerians are the ones that have been affected.”
“As a government, we have come out to condemn this and to assure the business community that ease of doing business is paramount to us and security of lives and property is part of the to-do list for us, he added.
“We are charging our security operatives to stop at nothing to ensure that they keep all of these facilities safe and secure,” said Sanwo-Olu.
The governor urged business owners to build positive relations with their communities, and said Lagosians, in turn, should see such organizations (business’) as part of them and equally own and protect them against attacks.
