A group under the auspices of Coalition of Nigerian Students in China (CNSC) has written off what it called campaigns of calumny against the Chinese government, saying the Communist country ensured that no Nigerian student studying there got infected with the coronavirus disease.
Umar Abukabar, President of the CNSC, in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja on Tuesday,
said at the wake of the virus, early this year, the Chinese government rolled out stringent measures which all citizens were expected to obey, including foreign students undertaking studies in China.
He said that the only problem Nigerians were having with the Chinese authorities was that they found it hard to obey laid down rules, a development Abubakar noted caused minor disagreement in Guangdong recently.
In April 2020, the social media went agog with stories of some residents of African descend including Nigerians forcefully thrown out of their homes and quarantined in Guangdong.
While the controversies lasted, a section of the media portrayed it as xenophobic hostilities targeted at African.
Abubakar however denounced such claims purporting that Nigerian students were the target and were being maltreatment unjustly in China.
He said if truly they were being maltreated the honourable thing they should have done was to leave the country if they found their regulations too stringent.
His words, “If truly they are being maltreated as claimed what are they still doing here? The Chinese government is our host and it’s bad as a guest to constantly constitute nuisance by disobeying their laws and expect your host to be happy.
“As President of Nigerian students in China, I can assure you that there is no truth in the prevailing stories that Nigerians are being harassed in China.
“Regarding the incident in Guangdong, what happened there was an isolated incident, and most of the Nigerians that were denied accommodation was because they refused to adhere to the stringent measures put in place by the Chinese government to curtail the spread of the coronavirus.
“Unfortunately many Nigerians are capitalizing on it to demonized the Chinese government, the successes the Chinese government achieved in curtailing the spread of the virus was because of these very stringent measures.
“How else do you think China was able to defeat the virus? many other nationals have been adhering to these new rules without questions, but Nigerians think they should be treated differently, hence they want to now dictate to the Chinese government how to run their country, it beats my imagination.
“Each time we come across such statements of ill treatment against Nigerians, it is an embarrassment not just to us but our host country, which sincerely don’t deserve this kind of propaganda.
“I can also tell you authoritatively as President of Nigerian students in China there is no case of any Nigerian student facing discrimination or molestation,we appreciate the efforts of the Chinese government in seeing to our welfare.
“We have been fully provided for and in most cases the Chinese government have borne the extra cost of our upkeep especially during the lockdown in some provinces. Amazingly the efforts of our host has ensured that no Nigerian student has so far contracted the virus and we hope it remains so.”
