Nigerian officials have urged Indian authorities to safeguard the safety of Nigerian students studying in the country.
Fighting broke out between Nigerian and Indian students at Delhi’s GD Goenka University last weekend, sparked by a football match dispute.
Footage of the clash has been shared on Twitter.
Nigerian students are being attacked in a University Campus near Delhi – 30,000 Nigerian students come to study in India paying money, 50,000 Indians live in Nigeria to make money. pic.twitter.com/K9u9Vn1PhM
— Ashok Swain (@ashoswai) October 17, 2022
The incident at the university’s Gurugram campus forced more than 80 Nigerians to flee and take refuge at the country’s embassy.
The chairwoman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, said: “a few injuries” had been recorded during the violence.
But Mrs Dabiri added that “calm” had been restored and that the Nigerian students have since returned to the campus after a meeting between officials of the two nations.
In a tweet, the Nigerian representative also said the country’s embassy had got a “written commitment by the Indian authorities to protect” Nigerian students.
She also advised that any students who felt “threatened” should report to the diplomatic mission of Nigeria.
The Indian authorities said they are investigating the incident – including reviewing CCTV footage of the violence, according to local media.
Thousands of African students – many of them Nigerians – are studying at several Indian universities.
But there have often been tensions between the locals and Africans.
Local media report that last month some Indian students had protested against African students praying on a football pitch, insisting that they should instead do so inside their hostels.