Mission plans census of Nigerians in South Africa

Nigeria High Commission in South Africa says the mission will carry out a comprehensive census of Nigerians living in that country for improved service delivery.

The High Commissioner, Amb. Ahmed Musa Ibeto, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Pretoria, South Africa on Tuesday that the exercise would cover the nine provinces of that country.

“ The mission plans to have a comprehensive data of Nigerians in South Africa. We want to know their locations in each province.

“ My intention is to have a comprehensive census of knowing the citizens of Nigeria residing in South Africa.

“ I have made it very clear that it doesn’t matter if they have the correct papers or travel documents,” he said.

Ibeto said that the mission`s aim was to have a data that would make it easy to know the number of Nigerians and their locations in each province.

The envoy said that the exercise would assist the mission to know how to track the citizens and provide services to them.

“ If we achieve that, we can provide services, we can track them, we can easily take care of their welfare. So, without this comprehensive data, there is no way we can take care of our nationals.

“And I told them that with what I have in mind, in terms of having an interactive website, where the citizens can interact with the mission,” he said.

Ibeto said that Nigerians could use the website to access consular services from their locations.

“ This will lessen expenses of traveling to Johannesburg or Pretoria for such services,” the Nigerian envoy said.