The irony landed with the returnees at Murtala Muhammed International Airport on Thursday morning.
Two hundred and fifty eight Nigerians who voluntarily fled South Africa to escape xenophobic attacks touched down in Lagos at about 10:30am. They were received by the Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, and immediately began undergoing card registration, immigration checks, and other documentation.
But what caught attention was not just the Federal Government’s N100,000 support for each returnee, or the additional packages promised by state governments and NGOs. It was the N50,000 free airtime from MTN waiting in the welcome pack.
MTN is South Africa’s biggest corporate name in Nigeria. And on Thursday, a South African company was funding the soft landing of Nigerians who had just been “sent packing” from South Africa.
The logic is not hard to see. MTN Nigeria is the crown jewel of the MTN Group. With over 77 million subscribers and trillions in annual revenue, Nigeria is the market MTN cannot afford to lose. Each time xenophobic violence flares up in South Africa, MTN offices in Nigeria come under threat. In 2019, several MTN outlets were attacked and looted after Nigerians were killed in Johannesburg and Pretoria.
So the N50,000 airtime is more than charity. It is crisis PR. It costs MTN very little. Airtime is not cash. For 258 returnees, the total is N12.9 million. That is what MTN Nigeria earns in under three minutes of airtime sales. But the value in goodwill is huge. Returnees stepping off the plane with no SIM, no data, and no way to reach family now have instant connection. In the raw emotion of arrival, that gesture sticks.
Yet the contradiction is brutal and Nigerians see it. A South African multinational is helping Nigerians flee South Africa. The same country where Nigerian shops are looted and set ablaze is home to the telecom firm that dominates Nigeria’s streets, airwaves, and advertising.
For years, the question has lingered: how can South African businesses thrive in Nigeria while Nigerians are hunted in South Africa? Thursday’s airport scene put that question on display. The Federal Government evacuates its citizens. A South African company hands them airtime to call home.
Mrs. Dabiri-Erewa and NIDCOM officials are focused on the hard work of resettlement. The N100,000 from the Federal Government, the MTN airtime, and other NGO support will help. But none of it replaces the businesses, homes, and years many of these returnees lost overnight.
MTN’s donation does not solve xenophobia. It does not bring back the dead or rebuild burnt stalls in Johannesburg. What it does is remind both Abuja and Pretoria that the economic ties between both nations run deep, even when the social ties are broken.
For now, 258 Nigerians are back home. They have N50,000 airtime to call their families and tell them they are safe. The calls will go through MTN towers, owned by the country they just escaped.
That is the story of Nigeria and South Africa in one airport arrival. Painful. Complicated. And far from over.
