In recent weeks, Nigerians and other Africans in Guangzhou, China, were maltreated and dehumanised by the Chinese authorities over reports that a Nigerian who tested positive to Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the district had attempted an escape from a treatment facility.
The Nigerian, in the process of escape, allegedly injured a Chinese nurse. Reported in the local media, this fuelled abuses and discrimination, making the Chinese local authorities to swoop on black Africans as the reports erroneously said that the COVID-19 was imported into the Chinese territory by foreigners.
The Chinese commenced the compulsory testing of blacks, especially Nigerians, chasing them from their homes and forcing them into quarantine. Several videos of this treatment went viral, showing Nigerians and other Africans being treated shabbily as security agents harassed them and made them sleep in the streets. There was an avalanche of protests as the videos circulated.
The hashtag, #ChinaMustExplain, created a huge furore on the social media, with Nigerians calling on the government to intervene as a matter of urgency. Among the viral videos was one that showed an official of the Nigeria Consul in Guangzhou out in the early hours of Friday, April 10, between 12 am and 3 am, Chinese time, demanding for and retrieving the seized passport of Nigerians, while protesting the ill treatment meted out to them.
Faced with the backlash, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama, invited and met privately with the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Zhou Pingjian, where he communicated the Nigerian government’s “extreme concern” at “allegations of maltreatment of Nigerians in Guangzhou” while calling for immediate Chinese government intervention.
But it was left for the Speaker of House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, to be the public face of Nigerian’s resentment at the ill treatment. In a meeting with the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Zhou Pingjian, at the National Assembly, Abuja, Gbajabiamila said such inhuman treatment was unacceptable, adding that it must be addressed forthwith, giving the Ambassador four days to report back on the update.
Confronting the Chinese Ambassador with the protest video of the incident, Gbajabiamila demanded an official explanation for treating Nigerians in such a manner. Responding, the Chinese Ambassador said though he had not been officially informed about the details of the incident, he would take it up with the home government, stating that “we take our relationship with Nigeria very seriously.”
As if to pre-empt the report of the Chinese Ambassador, Mr Onyeama said last week Tuesday that a thorough investigation carried out by the Chinese and Nigerian authorities revealed that the videos circulating online were of Nigerians who flouted the strict measures and the measures to check them were misinterpreted.
Onyeama noted that Nigerian officials have met with Chinese officials to register their displeasure and the Chinese government assured them that they have zero tolerance for racism, adding that they were on top of the situation.
But the issue was that the Chinese government, especially the Guangzhou authorities, never communicated with the Nigerian Consulate in China of the transgression of any law or COVID-19 rules and regulations by any Nigerian before they matched them out of their homes and hotels into the streets, while seizing their passports.
Much as they have a right to take all necessary measures to secure their country, including testing Nigerians or any other national and putting them into quarantine, there are proper channels for doing so. Why were the respective embassies of the maltreated not informed of the infringement by their nationals? It is not right for the passports, the legitimate property of the countries, to be arbitrarily seized without recourse to proper channels of communication.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs must take up this matter to ensure there is no re-occurrence either in China or anywhere else. Also, the Nigerian diplomat who professionally stood up for his country and its citizens should be commended. His conduct was exemplary.
