AFRICAN MIGRATION PANACEA AND THE INTEGRATION OF NIGERIA AND SOUTH AFRICA SINCE 1994

Abstract

For over a century, cross border movement of people has been ongoing between Nigeria and South Africa. The study adopts document analysis to investigate migration between Nigerians and South Africans. The study relied on oral interviews of former exiled South Africans, and former members of the National Action Against Apartheid, Newspaper reports, archival sources and written literature. The study found that Nigerians started immigrating to South Africa as early as 1905, and South African white Missionaries from the Dutch Reformed Church came to Nigeria in 1907, on the invitation of the Sudan United Mission, for evangelical work. It also found that the missionaries from South Africa were assigned the Benue region of Nigeria for missionary evangelical work. Additionally, the study established that Nigeria spent its resources in the fight against apartheid. In doing that, Nigeria did not only engage apartheid South Africa alone but used the instrument of diplomatic relation in canvassing support on the international scale through the United Nations, the Commonwealth and the formation of the OAU which
was largely funded by the Nigerian government. This study argues that although the migration phenomenon existed for over a century, the two countries are still unable to integrate for positive gains. Although the instrument of power lies in the hands of the black majority, the economy is still largely controlled by the white minority South Africans. This paper discusses the possibility of South Africa and Nigeria championing the possibility of economic and political integration of the two countries and argues that migration can be an instrument for uniting the entire Africa if the proper policies are put in place. The study concludes that rather than engaging in the Afro-phobic attacks against fellow Africans in South Africa, the panacea for Africa unity lies in the integration of the two countries.