Lumumba identifies what’s fueling xenophobia

•Says Africa cannot fight poverty by turning against fellow Africans Professor Patrick Loch Otieno (PLO) Lumumba has warned that Africa’s failure to create sufficient economic opportunities is fuelling xenophobia. He urged governments to address unemployment, poverty and weak industrial development rather than blame migrants for the continent’s challenges.

Lumumba, a renowned Kenyan legal scholar and public speaker, said xenophobia often thrived in societies experiencing economic hardship, where unemployment, inequality and pressure on public services encouraged citizens to regard foreigners as competitors. He spoke as the keynote speaker at the Bridge Club’s grand end-of-year event in Lagos on Thursday.

In his address, titled Africa Must Not Become Foreign to Itself: Xenophobia, Pan-Africanism and the Future of African Belonging, Lumumba argued that migrants were frequently made scapegoats for economic problems arising from poor governance and weak institutions. He said: “The foreign trader, worker or entrepreneur can be arrested. The failure to create productive employment over several decades cannot be arrested at a roadblock.” According to him, African governments must look beyond the presence of migrants and examine the structural weaknesses responsible for unemployment, poverty and economic competition.

He said the inability of many African countries to industrialise and create productive jobs had forced millions of young people into informal economic activities, where competition for limited opportunities could generate resentment. Lumumba observed that Africa’s economic dependence on exporting raw materials while importing finished products had contributed to the loss of employment opportunities to other economies.

“We export crude oil and import refined petroleum. We export cocoa and import chocolate. We export minerals and import the machines, batteries and technologies manufactured from them,” he said. He added that the continent was effectively creating employment opportunities elsewhere while its young population continued to struggle for limited opportunities at home.

The legal scholar said the appropriate response to the exploitation of migrant workers was to enforce labour laws against employers rather than encourage hostility towards foreigners. According to him, employers who engage undocumented migrants and pay them below lawful wages create resentment among local workers while benefiting from the division.

“The appropriate response is not violence against the migrant. It is enforcement of labour law against the employer,” he said. Lumumba also highlighted the contradiction in Africans celebrating the achievements of their compatriots abroad while treating migrants from other African countries with hostility. He noted that Nigerians seeking opportunities in London, Kenyans travelling to Dubai, Ghanaians moving to Canada and Zimbabweans relocating to South Africa were motivated by the same desire to improve their living conditions.

“We therefore understand perfectly well why human beings migrate when opportunity is scarce. We simply become less understanding when the migrant arrives at our own door,” he said. He stressed that African governments must recognise their responsibility to create jobs, protect wages, improve public services and enforce immigration laws without subjecting foreigners to humiliation or collective punishment.

Lumumba maintained that the fight against xenophobia was inseparable from the struggle for economic development, insisting that African economies must become sufficiently productive to accommodate their growing populations. “The real enemy is therefore not the African who crosses the border in search of opportunity. The greater enemy is an economic order that creates too little opportunity and then invites Africans to quarrel over the little that exists,” he said.

He urged African leaders to prioritise industrialisation, agricultural transformation, infrastructure development, education and technology as sustainable measures for tackling economic hardship and reducing hostility towards migrants. Lumumba said Pan-Africanism must move beyond declarations of solidarity to practical economic cooperation capable of making the prosperity of one African country beneficial to others.

Earlier, the President of The Bridge Club, Abdulhakeem Mustapha (SAN), said the continued discrimination against Africans in other African countries represented a fundamental contradiction of the ideals of continental unity. He said Pan-Africanism must be reflected in everyday conduct, institutional practices and the way African countries treat citizens of other African nations.

“How can we preach Pan-Africanism while tolerating attitudes and practices that diminish the humanity and dignity of fellow Africans?” he asked.