Following the controversy that emerged that Chinese authorities in Guangzhou in the Guangdong province have allegedly maltreated Nigerians and other Africans in their quest to enforce measures against COVID-19, the Federal Government has attributed the alleged ill-treatment on poor communication between the Chinese authorities and African consulates in Guangzhou, China.
Geoffrey Onyeama, minister of Foreign Affairs, in company of Zhou Pingjian, the Chinese ambassador to Nigeria, said this while briefing reporters in Abuja on Tuesday. He urged Nigerians to be objective at all times in assessing incidents like that of Guangzhou.
Onyeama told reporters that Nigerian officials in China informed him that poor communication was responsible for efforts made by Chinese authorities to contain an incident of a lady who tested positive for the 2019 novel coronavirus in the area.
The Minister made reference to a video in both Igbo and English languages, which he said explained that the situation was not quite what was seen in the video of the alleged maltreatment of Nigerians.
He noted that there was a flight which conveyed a group of Nigerians to Guangzhou in which some Nigerians on the flight tested positive for COVID-19. He added that amongst the Nigerians, was a lady who owned a restaurant in Guangzhou, who had tested positive.
He said the restaurant owned by the infected Nigerian lady was frequented predominantly and almost exclusively by Africans and Nigerians, adding that the Chinese authorities obviously picked up on this because there was this group of people who had tested positive allegedly patronising the restaurant.
“And so, automatically the Chinese authorities demanded and insisted that they all be quarantined, with nobody allowed to come out in 14 days and that if anybody came out from that quarantine, that they should not be allowed in, if it was a hotel, back into that hotel or that residence.
“So, they put in very, very strict measure to try to contain this outbreak which to them at that time, clearly seemed to have been within that community. And so, they put in place, this very, very strict measure.
“Now, it was misinterpreted it appeared, by some of the Nigerians and Africans who could not understand why it seemed to be selective and targeting only themselves,” Onyeama said.
He further explained that having seen the video and received various calls from China, he, of course, alerted the Nigerian Embassy and officials in Guangzhou at the consulate, particularly the acting consul-general.
“And they confirmed that the narrative was true; that there were in other words, this case that had been confirmed positive that came in from an African flight, and that there was this lady who owned a restaurant, who was positive and the great fear that all the clients visiting that restaurant, and may be, other restaurants might have been infected and might now be passing on that infection. So, after their experience in Wuhan, they were very determined to contain this in this way.
“But what our officials in China made clear was that the communication could and should have been better if the authorities in Guangzhou had informed the consulates, the African consulates in Guangzhou that this was the situation, this was the measure that they were putting in place. It could have been a joint effort, a team effort and that mutual suspicion would not have been there. And of course, that was not done and that led to counter narratives and exercabated the situation,” Onyeama also said.
The minister however, disclosed that both the Nigerian and Chinese authorities were working closely to resolve the issue and on top of the situation.
Earlier, Onyeama told the Chinese envoy that the Nigerian government takes seriously the issues of the human rights and wellbeing of Nigerians anywhere and everywhere in the world, adding that wherever there might be any issues in that regard, the Nigerian government considered it an absolute obligation to intervene to ensure the rights and dignity of Nigerians are protected anywhere in the world.
In his remarks, Zhou Pingjian, Chinese ambassador to Nigeria, said the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China took note of the seriousness in which the minister and the Nigerian government placed on the issues raised by Nigerians.
Pingjian added that China respected and admired the working cooperation between China and Nigeria, saying that China would never forget the invaluable support it received from Nigeria during the most challenging stage in the fight against COVID-19 in China.
“The minister, I should say, has said all that. We are totally on the same page,” Pingjian said.
The Chinese envoy further said nothing has changed in China’s policy of friendship towards Africa, even as he said China cherished its strategic partnership with Nigeria.
He stated that Guangzhou was only fighting COVID-19 and not Nigerians or Africans or foreign nationals or Chinese.
Innocent Odoh, Abuja
