Nigeria-China COVID-19 Row Puts $20bn Investments At Stake

The recent event in Guangzhou, China, where some Nigerians were allegedly maltreated, almost soured relations between Nigeria and the East Asian country. Attempts were made by some Nigerians to retaliate by attacking some Chinese investments in the country. But can Nigeria afford to lose China and its investments?

From textile to household appliances, furniture to automobile, consumables to iron and steel as well as from Financial Technology (FinTech) products to construction, Chinese investors have almost taken over the Nigerian manufacturing sector, churning out tons of products for various segments of the market.

With estimated 160 Chinese firms operating in Nigeria, Daily Trust reports that the total investments of Chinese companies in Nigeria are worth over $20bn, according to China Chambers of Commerce.

The President China Chamber of Commerce in Nigeria, Ye Shuijin, said, “The 160 Chinese firms operating in the country had also employed over 200,000 Nigerians. I believe the Chinese investment in Nigeria now is about $20bn. Our workforce is 95% Nigerians.”

Shuijin, who is the Managing Director of China Geo-engineering Company, stated that his company, which was established in Nigeria in 1983, has offices in 30 states.

The Chinese Chambers President refuted claims that ex-prison inmates were being brought into the country to work as expatriates, insisting that it was not possible to do such a thing, adding that the Chinese embassy monitored the Chinese companies.

Experts said Nigeria’s over 200 million population makes the country the most competitive destination for the establishment of medium and large manufacturing industries in the continent.

The Chinese investors, according to a Lagos-based investment expert, Sikiru Foshe, have also positioned themselves to take advantage of Nigeria’s expansive market because of failure of many investors from the West to stake their investments in Nigeria.

But the recent issues and misconceptions between the two countries where some citizens of both sides were taking laws into their own hands because of attacks by some unscrupulous people almost marred this economic relationship and plunged Nigeria’s rejuvenating manufacturing sector into reverse.

Origin of the crisis

Though the Federal Government has blamed poor communication between Chinese authorities and African consulates in Guangzhou, China, for the alleged maltreatment of Africans in the area, some Nigerians still continue to loathe the Chinese.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey 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 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. Among the Nigerians, the minister stated, was a lady who owned a restaurant in Guangzhou, who tested positive.

“The Nigerian restaurant was frequented by Africans and Nigerians, and so the Chinese authorities obviously picked on this that there was this group of people who had tested positive. They 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.

Onyeama further said 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 the 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.

The Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria Dr Pingjian 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.

He added 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.

Denial

China rejected criticism about the alleged mistreatment of Africans by authorities in the southern city of Guangzhou, a dispute that could set back Beijing’s diplomatic and economic relations with the continent.

The government has treated foreigners equally and attaches great importance to their life and health, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Zhao Lijian said in a statement.

“We reject differential treatment, and we have zero tolerance for discrimination,” Zhao said.

Africans react

But African leaders alleged discrimination against their citizens by city authorities in measures to stem the spread of imported coronavirus cases, saying Africans were mistreated, evicted from hotels, and forcefully tested for the virus.

African Union Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat expressed “extreme concern” to Chinese Ambassador Liu Yuxi about “allegations of maltreatment of Africans” in Guangzhou. In a tweet, he said the African Group in Beijing was engaging with the Chinese government.

South Africa, the current African Union chair, separately expressed concern about “alleged ill-treatment of African nationals in China, including the forceful testing, quarantining for Covid-19, and other inhuman treatment.”

The country called for an investigation into the matter, according to a statement from the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation.

The attack on OGFTZ

However, some Nigerian have since retaliated the attacks on their fellow citizens by destroying some Chinese investments in the country.

The Ogun Guangdong Free Trade Zone (OGFTZ) in Ogun State was attacked by some angry Nigerians.

Though the management of the Zone attributed the attack which resulted in destruction of the company’s property to the company’s efforts to enforce the lock down order of the Federal Government, some analysts said it may not be unconnected with the recent happenings.

Hundreds of workers in the zone which is being managed by the Chinese, broke through the police defense and rushed into the Zone, throwing stones, destroying the gate, sentry box and vehicles, which compromised the security and Covid-19 prevention measures of the zone, Daily Trust reports.

‘Nigeria, China should tread softly’

But the governments of both countries have been urged to approach the issue with utmost care in order not to degenerate further.

The Executive Director, Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, said Nigeria should do as much as it could to retain friendship with China and its investors in order to keep the economy moving.

Though this doesn’t mean the Nigerian authorities should cede their responsibilities to the Chinese, Rafsanjani who is also the Head of Transparency International, told Daily Trust that Nigerian economy is in such a situation that it needs foreign investors badly to survive.

“And the Chinese investors have proven to be a good ally in that they have staked billions of dollars into the Nigerian economy, though this is not for free,” he said.

He believes if the attacks and counter attacks are allowed to fester, Chinese investments in Nigeria would suffer and the Nigerian investments in China would equally suffer.

But at the end of the day, “invariably, Nigerian economy will suffer more.”