WEEKS back we asked the Federal Government to intervene decisively on attacks that target Nigerians in South Africa. The attacks included armed robberies on Nigerian travellers and residents.

The attacks have become more dangerous with the reported cases of deaths in riots that are aimed at immigrants. South African security agencies are not too enthusiastic about controlling them. Among the dead are said to be Nigerians, who were either in church while their property was attacked, or on their way to places of worship. They were dragged out of buses, and beaten, some to death.

South Africans apparently have forgotten the role that Nigeria played, at great expense, to see to the cessation of apartheid. The Nigerian support came in various forms, including provision of refugee for top officials of the present South African government.

Nigeria educated young South Africans free, provided material and logistic support for their fighters and helped in getting similar support for South Africans from other countries. The economies of countries around South Africa got Nigeria's assistance in order that the strangulating punishment Pretoria unleashed on them, for hosting the freedom fighters, would be ameliorated.

These are verifiable facts. Yet no foreigner gets the type of treatment South Africans reserve for Nigerians. Before this week's riots that seem to be more encompassing, Nigerians have been at the receiving end of the anger of South Africans, who are unable to tap into the economic opportunities that abound in their country.

Nigerian professionals, as well as semi-skilled people, have found they could prosper in a South Africa that recognises abilities. Some of them have struck out successfully in South Africa, others are there as staff of international organisations that established presence in South Africa after apartheid. The success of Nigerians has attracted envy and a certain disdain.

Of course, Nigerians are not known to celebrate their successes with restraint. Yet it is not a reason to kill them.

However, the Federal Government's attitude to the welfare of Nigerians, at home and abroad, is mainly responsible for the facility with which Nigerians are brutalised abroad. With the armed robbery attacks, the discriminatory services that its airline provides, and the humiliating experiences of Nigerians at South African airports, the Federal Government still needed to be prodded to seek explanations from the South African High Commission in Abuja.

A government that cared about the welfare of its people would have warned the South Africans about the consequences of the attacks on Nigerians. If it did, the current attacks would not have taken place or at least not in this form.

South Africans are beneficiaries of the business openings in Nigeria, and they are in many sectors of the economy. Nigerians are fair-minded enough to accept them, though their country cannot make the same claims about contributing to the Nigerian society as Nigerians did in fighting apartheid.

As a member of the international community, South Africans must understand their country has a limited choice on the number of foreigners that live there. Where these foreigners commit any offence, the issue has to be determined legally, not through unproved attacks on unarmed people.

It is good to note that Nelson Mandela, global icon for justness, has condemned the attacks and warned his compatriots of the dangers of South Africa descending to "destructive divisiveness". A lot more needs to be done, if not, South Africa could get worse and lose the opportunities of being greater in its post apartheid years. The solutions lie in its government tackling the challenges of getting its poor people to benefit from the huge opportunities in the economy.

Immediate concern is for the Federal Government to ensure the safety of Nigerians in South Africa, and elsewhere.