Two hundred and sixty-eight Nigerians evacuated from China have landed in the federal capital territory (FCT).
In a tweet on Saturday, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, chief executive officer of Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), said the evacuees arrived in Abuja at about 2:30 pm on Saturday.
In line with the standards of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) to contain the spread of COVID-19, the returnees would be quarantined for 14 days.
“268 stranded Nigerians arrive Abuja airport about 2.30 pm today , from China. They will be proceeding for the mandatory 14-day quarantine,” Dabiri-Erewa said.
In April, there were videos in circulation on how Nigerians were being maltreated in China over the suspicion that they might have contracted the coronavirus.
Speaking at the media briefing of the presidential task force on COVID-19 on April 23, 2020, Geoffrey Onyeama, minister of foreign affairs, had said the federal government was engaging with other African nations on definitive steps to check the trend of maltreatment of its citizens in China.
“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 is a red line for us,” he said.
“They have in turn told us that that there is no case of that ongoing but clearly, you know, we are seeing videos. 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.”