The federal
government says it has made it clear to China that it will not accept any form
of discrimination or racism against blacks in China.
In the last three
weeks, there have been different reports, particularly on social media, of
security operatives harassing Nigerians and other Africans in the Asian
country.
Speaking at the
media briefing of the presidential task force on COVID-19 on Thursday, Geoffrey
Onyeama, minister of foreign affairs, said the federal government is engaging
with other African nations to work together on definitive steps and measures to
check the trend.
“Now we have been
engaging with Chinese government at various levels at the level of our
Consulate in Guangzhou, which is where these cases of discrimination and racism
having taking place and also at the federal level in Beijing with our
ambassador,” he said.
“So we’ve made it
known to the Chinese government in no uncertain terms that under no
circumstances will we accept racial discrimination against Nigerians or indeed
Africans or blacks in China, that that is a red line for us.
“They have in turn
told us that that there is no case of that ongoing but clearly, you know, we
are seeing video, I have received reports and we’ve told them it’s unacceptable
and we’re also engaging with other African countries to decide and work
together on definitive steps and measures that we will take because of this
situation.”
The minister said he
had directed the Nigerian consulate in Guangzhou to detail every single case of
discrimination and loss or damage suffered by any Nigerian, adding: “we will
pursue each and every single one very robustly with the Chinese government. If
it requires compensation, damages etc”.
“So for us, as I
said, it’s a red line and we’re going to fight till the very end. We’re
extremely disappointed because we have excellent relations with the government
and people of China the such a thing can happen at this stage and you know when
there were calls for travel to be banned to China when recorded the outbreak in
Wuhan and so forth, we went along with the World Health organisation’s advice,
not to place a ban on China,” he said.
“We showed
solidarity because we’ve also had our own experience of epidemics with Ebola
and so forth, you know, but really we’re deeply wounded by what has happened to
Nigerians and other Africans in China, of course, the government has given us
explanations and so forth, but really it is something we never expected and we
will pursue it to its final conclusion and we will not make any compromises in
doing so.”
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