'We neva receive any request' - Nigeria react to South Africa request for pay back ova repatriated citizens

Nigeria tok say dem neva receive any request from South Africa to pay back di costs of repatriating Nigerians from di kontri.

Nigerian foreign ministry tok-tok pesin Kimiebi Imomotimi Ebienfa tell BBC on Wednesday say: "we neva receive any request".

Nigeria consul general for South Africa, Ninikanwa Okey-Uche, also tell BBC say she neva receive dat kain request from di South African govment.

Dis reaction dey come afta South African govment claim say dem spend 292.77m rand ($18m; £13.5m) to accommodate and transport tens of thousands of migrants wey dem deport or di ones wey choose to return dia home kontris.

South Africa Home Affairs department bin tell lawmakers on Tuesday, 12 August, say dem don write to Malawi, Ethiopia and Nigeria to seek reimbursement for some of di costs.

Dem say spend di money on buses to transport di immigrants, temporary repatriation centres and staff overtime, among oda expenses.

Home Affairs director-general Tommy Makhode describe di spending as "unforeseen and unavoidable".

Speaking to lawmakers, e tell dem say: "We don also write to govments of Malawi, and of course di embassies of Nigeria and Ethiopia to request for reimbursements of dis costs through di Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO)" wey South Africa incur.

Home Affairs Director-General Tommy Makhode tell Parliament Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs say di department bin spend R292 million on di operation, substantially exceeding dia R60 million allocation for deportations.

"And we dey expect responses from dose govments", e add.

For June, several kontris begin di operation to repatriate dia citizens from South Africa sake of di anti-illegal immigrant protests wey flare up again for di kontri.

Makhode tok say dem bin no anticipate di scale of di operation and dem no put am for di ministry budget, e describe am as "unfunded mandate" bicos "dem no provide for repatriations" within di existing legislative framework.

E say di largest part of di spending bin go towards securing buses and transporting migrants.

Some municipalities and govment departments wey help wit di operation also dey seek reimbursement from di Home Affairs department, becos dem bin no budget for di costs, e tok.

Di Home Affairs say dem bin allocate about 57m rand ($3.54m) for deportations, but Oga Makhode say di scale of dis year operations pass di money wey dem bin budget.

Since early dis year, South Africa don see multiple protests across parts of di kontri, wia tensions ova undocumented migration don fuel calls for tougher immigration controls.

Organisations wey include March and March and Operation Dudula bin enta streets as dem demand say make undocumented foreign nationals for di kontri comot.

Di organisations bin give undocumented foreign nationals 30 June as deadline to leave di kontri, as dem threaten to shut down di kontri if dem no go.

South Africa tok say more dan 80,000 pipo don either voluntarily comot di kontri or dem deport dem since di protest against illegal migrants and enforcement against undocumented migrants ginger for di kontri.

As of August 6, Home Affairs say dem don process 82,875 foreign nationals through dia repatriation centres.

Di foreigners wey comot di kontri bifor di 30 June deadline protest and dose wey di Border Management Authority process no dey part of dis figure.

For July, Nigeria say dem dey seek compensation from South Africa for dia citizens wey comot di kontri sake of di protests wey target undocumented migrants.

Di Nigerian ministry tok-tok pesin Kimiebi Imomotimi Ebienfa bin tell BBC say di two govments go discuss di issue "at di highest levels".