By Chukwuka A. Imoh
Television screens and social media platforms were abuzz last month with pictures of Nigerians on Chinese streets protesting their eviction from their hotels and places of abode by the Chinese security forces on account that they were coronavirus-prone, or that they were already infected by the COVID-19 virus.
Many who saw video clips of the scene, could not help but join issues with others, calling for a pound of flesh from the Chinese in return.
Most of Nigerians’ angst on the development flowed from the premise that Nigeria has been very accommodating of the Chinese and their businesses and that the least that was expected from such a robust relationship was reciprocal treatment.
Secondly, the outbreak of the COVID-19 which is the cause of the alleged Chinese action, started from China, so Nigerians saw it as a strange occurrence that Nigerians were now being stigmatized and hounded as though they were the originators of the pandemic.
Nigerians penchant for travel is well known and their enterprising prowess is legendary. It was therefore not an accident, neither was it a coincidence that Nigerians were in China at a time that coronavirus went viral in the Chinese enclave.
Nigerians’ exploits in business, all kinds of businesses, have led to a linkage effect, resulting in many Chinese businesses being leapfrogged into Nigeria, such that at all times, you have an admixture of Chinese and Nigerians crisscrossing the Indian Ocean in bids to service their businesses, or joint business establishments.
As things stand, this collaboration and cooperation have grown so thick that any attempt to rupture it, or cause an abridgement will be detrimental to all parties.
This is why there is urgent need to chart a new course forward rather than allowing it to fester into an internecine squabble and conflict that will do no one any good.
Good enough, the federal government and the Chinese authority have already taken steps to douse the tension by providing clues and explanations as to what actually transpired, attributing the whole brouhaha to poor communication. Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama put the records straight at a press conference attended by the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Dr. Zhou Pingjian.
Onyeama said 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 coronavirus in the area. He said the Nigerian and Chinese authorities were working closely to resolve the issue.
Recalling the incidence, Onyeama made reference to a video in both Igbo and English languages, which explained that the situation was not quite what was seen in the video as a maltreatment of Nigerians in China.
Onyeama further said there was a flight which conveyed a group of Nigerians to Guangzhou in which some Nigerians on the flight tested positive for COVID-19, saying among the Nigerians was a lady who owned a restaurant in Guangzhou, who tested positive.
“A Nigerian restaurant frequented by Africans and Nigerians; the Chinese authorities obviously picked up on this that there was this group of people who had tested positive.
And so, automatically demanded and insisted that they all be quarantined, with nobody allowed to come out in 14 days, and if anybody came out from that quarantine, that they should not be allowed back into that hotel or that residence.
“So, to try to contain this outbreak, which to them at that time, clearly seemed to have been within that community, they put in place this very, very strict measures.
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, adding that, having seen the video and received various calls from China, he alerted the Nigerian embassy and officials in Guangzhou at the consulate, particularly the acting consul-general.
“And they confirmed that that narrative was true. That there were, in other words, this case that had been confirmed as 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 maybe 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 measures that they were putting in place and so far 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 exacerbated the situation,” Onyeama said.
Onyeama noted that the Nigerian government took very seriously the issue of human rights and the wellbeing of Nigerians anywhere in the world.
Zhou 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 issues raised by Nigerians in China, saying that China respected and admired the working cooperation between China and Nigeria, and 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 insight provided by Onyeama and Zhou should provide some succor and douse existing tension. Beyond that, the time has come to cement the Nigeria-China business platform rather than fragment it.
There is so much to gain on both sides of the divide working together, rather than otherwise. A cursory look at some of the existing business collaboration showed increasing investments of China in Nigeria.
We have the rail from Lagos to Ibadan that is nearing completion, the various Chinese construction works going on across the country; add to that Free Trade Zones arrangements, the giant Dangote Refinery complex and many more.
Although we cannot say of such corresponding heavy duty works of Nigeria’s extraction in China, the fact remains that a huge trading and commercial line is ongoing between Nigeria and China. It is said that China is Nigeria’s biggest trading partner.
This self-evident considering the numerous household consumables of Chinese origin in Nigerian homes and industry. Also, a great chunk of Nigeria’s crude oil is traded with China, pre-COVID-19 pandemic.
Nigeria and China have grown so closely together, especially in international trade, so much so that any development that will cause fissures in the line of business of both countries, will only end up doing more harm than good. Therefore measures must be put in place to quickly douse the raging storm
- Imoh, a public commentator, writes from Owerri.
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