Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bianca Ojukwu, has reflected on her generation’s active involvement in the global struggle against apartheid, recalling how Nigerians once risked arrest while protesting in solidarity with South Africans.
According to a news report on Arise News, the minister addressed broader diplomatic concerns surrounding the treatment of African migrants in South Africa and Nigeria’s historical relationship with the country.
She said: “In my generation, we carried placards and protested for South Africans, sometimes we even got arrested.”
Ojukwu explained that during the apartheid era, many Nigerians and other Africans openly demonstrated against the South African regime, often staging protests at diplomatic missions and public spaces as part of a wider international pressure campaign.
According to her, these actions were driven by a strong sense of pan-African solidarity and a shared belief in the liberation of Black South Africans from racial oppression.
She noted that such activism was not without consequences, as participants frequently faced arrests and other legal challenges due to their involvement in public demonstrations.
The minister’s remarks were made in the context of renewed concerns over violence against African immigrants in South Africa, which she described as a form of targeted hostility against Black Africans.
Her comments also underscored Nigeria’s historical role in supporting South Africa’s freedom movement, highlighting the sacrifices made by earlier generations in the pursuit of continental justice and equality.
The discussion formed part of a broader conversation on diplomatic responses and regional cooperation in addressing the safety and rights of Nigerians abroad.