Nigeria slams racial discrimination against its nationals at Ukraine’s borders, demands equal treatment

Following reports of racist and unfair treatment of Africans fleeing conflict-stricken Ukraine, Nigeria has denounced such discrimination, calling on border officials in the European country and its neighbors to treat Nigerian nationals equally.

Four days into a special military operation by Russia in Ukraine, scores of Nigerians, Ghanaians and other Africans, mostly students, have joined hundreds of thousands of people, many of them Ukrainians, who are trying to escape Ukraine across borders into Poland and other neighboring countries.

“There have been unfortunate reports of Ukrainian police and security personnel refusing to allow Nigerians to board buses and trains heading towards the Ukraine-Poland border,” said Garba Shehu, a senior advisor to the Nigerian president, on Monday.

He added that in one video, which is widely circulating on social media, a Nigerian mother with her young baby was seen being physically forced to give up her seat to another person.

Shehu added that there were also separate reports of Polish officials barring Nigerian nationals from entry into Poland from Ukraine.

“Those in official positions in security and border management will in most cases be experiencing impossible expectations in a situation they never expected,” the Nigerian official further said, adding, “For that reason, it is paramount that everyone is treated with dignity and without favor.”

Poland's Ambassador to Nigeria Joanna Tarnawska, however, has rejected the allegations of unfair treatment, saying, “Everybody receives equal treatment. I can assure you that I have reports that already some Nigerian nationals have crossed the border into Poland.”

Ukraine is home to tens of thousands of African students, mostly from Morocco, Nigeria and Egypt, studying medicine, engineering, and military affairs.

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A number of Nigerian nationals who managed to cross into neighboring countries, particularly Poland, recounted frightening journeys in the dark to reach traffic-packed border crossings where they were made to wait as officials purportedly gave priority to Ukrainian women and children.

Stephanie Agekameh, a Nigerian medical student who finally reached Poland, said Ukraine’s border officials at the Medyka border crossing were responding first to Ukrainians.

“One of the officers came and told us it's harder for us foreigners because they have to get in touch with our government in different countries,” she told AFP by text message.

Agantem Moshe, another Nigerian student studying managerial sciences, who is now in Korczowa village in Poland, said that Ukrainian police had pushed Africans out of the way to make way for Ukrainian women and children.

“From the Polish side it was smooth, they were professionals. In Ukraine, they kept us outside in the cold.” 

In a statement, the Nigerian foreign ministry said that the country’s embassy in Romania had received 130 Nigerians from Ukraine, adding that another 74 nationals were accounted for in Hungary, where another 200 were expected on Monday.

According to the United Nations, more than half a million refugees from Ukraine have so far crossed into neighboring countries.

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