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Xenophobia The Corrected One
Xenophobia The Corrected One
(ECN 344)
DR. M OGUNNIYI
This research aims to examine the effect of xenophobia on the foreign remittances of the
Nigerian economy.
STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
Various forces are at play as contributors fueling the physical and psychological abuse on both
foreigners in South Africa. While most African nations attained political freedom in the post
1060 period, social economic development lagged behind with poverty, unemployment and
inequality on the rise. These challenges are known as the evil triplets and these caused many
Africans to migrate to better off countries like South Africa in search of greener pastures.
EMPIRICAL
Akinola confirmed that South Africa accommodates the largest number of asylum seeker in the
world thus the scramble for job opportunities and scarce resources between South Africans and
non-South Africans did not only fuel tensions but also led to xenophobia and xenophobic attacks
aimed at causing bodily harm. He also argued that this situation was further perpetuated by the
political illiteracy on the part of South Africans with regard to African politics. These incudes the
decisive roles played by other African nations (especially Nigeria i.e. the Mandela tax) in the
liberation of South Africa.
It’s against this background that this research seeks to understand the impact of xenophobia on
remittances from Nigerians living in South Africa and the Nigerian economy using the Granger
Causality Model and a few interviews from distinguished lecturers in the University of Lagos.
JUSTIFICATION
We are conducting this research in order to consider the effect of these xenophobic attacks on the
Nigerian economy and its socio economic effects on Nigeria because for an economy to grow we
have to understand those factors which are lagging.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
He presented a summary based on perceived xenophobic attacks which rose from the 2008/2009
economic depression which has led to high spread of jealousy among South Africans against
non-South Africans and has caused physical attacks and fatalities.
He also sourced from an interview that most of the reasons for the attacks could be captured in
the quote “They are taking our business, their businesses are successful because they are
involved in drugs, their stuff is cheap hence people buy from foreign shops” (interview No 10,
workshop, 28 August 2015)
However, the criticisms from his work are the fact that it is outdated and he is of the opinion that
the xenophobic attacks are mostly caused by economic factors.
Musuva (2014)
According to him xenophobia takes place because of crime, poverty and unemployment. The
current attacks were as a result of South Africans feeling that foreigners are taking their jobs
thereby dominating their economy.
He is of the opinion that South Africans blame foreigners for the high unemployment rate and
that South Africans are angry that foreigners are benefitting from their country through their
small businesses. But however South African mega businesses are flourishing in most parts of
Africa without any hindrance, for example MTN group is a South African multinational mobile
telecommunications company operating in many African countries in which Nigeria has its
biggest markets. MTN Nigeria has generated 37% of the total revenue for the MTN group
worldwide as at 2015. Also DSTV will be no different in terms of where most of its revenue
comes from.
Despite all this it remains shameful that the Nigerian economy doesn’t gain a large chunk of this
earning even though its citizens are the major contributors to the success of these companies.
The criticisms of his work include the fact that the information is outdated and he only gave
specific information on the impact of Xenophobia on the South African economy and not the
Nigerian economy.
DATA ANALYSIS
Hypothesis testing;
Ho: xenophobia doesn’t affect the remittances to the Nigerian economy
H1: xenophobia affects the remittances to the Nigerian economy
We would be testing these using the Granger Causality Model
METHODOLOGY
We would be using the qualitative and quantitative model. Under the quantitative model we
would be using the Granger Causality Model to examine two variables; the number of
xenophobic attacks as the independent variable and the level of foreign remittances as the
dependent variable based on secondary data of the given variables. Under the qualitative we
would be using interviews.
SOURCES OF DATA
CONCLUSION
Why this research?
Paucity of data due to the asymmetrical distribution of data, information and statistics in the
Nigerian economy.
We however plan to mitigate this problem by supplementing our quantitative data with the
qualitative data.