FG, China Set For Diplomatic Row After H/ Reps Order

By Fola James

Barely one month after the Speaker of the House of Representative, Femi Gbajabiamila, summoned and reprimanded the Chinese ambassador to Nigeria, the lower chamber, yesterday, directed the federal government to deport all illegal Chinese immigrants back to their country.

The decision to deport Chinese national is considered, by not a few, a retaliatory measure against Nigerians in China since the global outbreak of the corona virus pandemic.

The lawmakers, on Tuesday resumed after over one month recess   to move a motion seeking relevant government agencies to check the validity of immigration documents of Chinese nationals in Nigeria, with a view to fishing out illegal and undocumented immigrants and repatriate them back home.

The bill, titled Maltreatment and Institutional Acts of Racial Discrimination against Nigerians Living in China by the Government of China, was sponsored by 10 members: Benjamin Okezie Kalu, Yusuf Buba, John Dyegh, Babajimi Benson and Tunji Olawuyi.

Others are Zakari Galadima, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, Nnoli Nnaji, Dennis Idahosa and Tolu Shadipe.

The lawmakers adopted the motion which seeks; “one, condemn, in its entirety, the maltreatment, discrimination and xenophobic attacks against Nigerians in the Peoples Republic of China; two, urge the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and all relevant agencies to ensure that all Nigerians who wish to return home, including Nigerians that only visited for business, Nigerians with any form of travel document and identification, Nigerians with passports but expired visas, and Nigerians with passports and valid visas who have been ejected by house owners, Nigerians who have tested negative for COVID-19, are evacuated from China and quarantined upon arrival.”

They directed the Attorney General of the federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami and other relevant government agencies to reach out to Nigerians abroad facing problems in their resident countries, with a view to helping them out.

The lawmakers said “The bill also urges the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and all relevant agencies to provide all necessary financial and other assistance to affected Nigerian citizens in China who wish to seek redress in any local or international court for breach of fundamental rights, loss of property or any other actionable cause occasioned by their maltreatment or discrimination in China.

“Four, it mandates the Committees on Interior, Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring, and Commerce to investigate the Nigerian Immigration, Corporate Affairs Commission, Nigerian Content and Development Monitoring Board, and any other relevant Ministry, Department or Agency to check the validity of all immigration documents of every Chinese person in Nigeria and the expatriate quota of all the Chinese businesses in Nigeria to ascertain the number of illegal and undocumented Chinese immigrants in Nigeria and to repatriate them to China.”

Meanwhile, diplomatic analysts insist that it will be difficult for the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to be involved in any diplomatic spat with the Peoples’ Republic of China which is one of Nigeria’s biggest creditors.

The federal government has recently applied, from the Chinese government a $17 billion to finance critical infrastructure in the country.