President Bola Tinubu has agreed to receive a special envoy from South African President Cyril Ramaphosa following high-level diplomatic engagements over the recent xenophobic attacks on Nigerians in South Africa.

The South African delegation, led by the country’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ronald Lamola, arrived in Abuja on July 24 but was initially unable to secure a meeting with the Nigerian president amid outrage over the attacks on Nigerians, their businesses and properties.

However, following behind-the-scenes diplomatic efforts, including a telephone conversation initiated by President Ramaphosa over the weekend, Tinubu agreed to meet the delegation later on Monday.

The meeting is expected to include officials from both countries, with the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Sola Enikanolaiye, representing Nigeria’s foreign ministry in the absence of Foreign Affairs Minister Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, who is attending official engagements in Addis Ababa. Odumegwu-Ojukwu had earlier advised that it was not the right time for the President to receive the South African envoy while attacks on Nigerians in South Africa persisted.