A total of 116 Nigerians have been killed in South Africa through extrajudicial means over the last two years, Nigeria’s Daily Trust newspaper reports quotes a government official as saying.

Abike Dabiri-Erewa, a senior official at the foreign office, made the disclosure after meeting Lulu Louis Mnguni, the South African ambassador to Nigeria in the capital, Abuja.

She reportedly said that nearly seven in 10 of the killings were carried out by the South African police:

“In the last two years, 116 Nigerians have been killed in South Africa and according to statistics, 63% of them were killed by the police.”

 Nigeria’s Premium Times newspaper does not specify over what period the 116 killings took place, but quotes her concern about criminalisation of Nigerian migrants in South Africa:”We are worried in particular about the criminalisation of Nigerian migrants in South Africa. Yes, some do commit crimes and deserve to be punished, but the extra-judicial killings worry us a lot.”

 The latest killing of a Nigerian in South Africa occurred in December 2016 when police in the city of Cape Town suffocated Victor Nnadi, to death, the papers say.

Mr Mnguni promised the killings would be investigated and those involved would be punished.

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