The House of Representatives on Tuesday moved a motion seeking the deportation of illegal and undocumented Chinese immigrants in the country.
To that effect, the lawmakers want the relevant government agencies to therefore, check the validity of immigration documents as well as the expatriate quota of all the Chinese nationals and businesses in Nigeria.
The bill, titled “Maltreatment and Institutional Acts of Racial Discrimination against Nigerians Living in China by the Government of China,” was sponsored by 10 lawmakers and was unanimously adopted.
The lawmakers behind the bill are; Yusuf Buba, Benjamin Okezie Kalu, John Dyegh, Babajimi Benson, Tunji Olawuyi, Zakari Galadima, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, Nnoli Nnaji, Dennis Idahosa and Tolu Shadipe.
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The motion condemned in its entirety, the maltreatment, discrimination and xenophobic attacks against Nigerians in the Peoples Republic of China and urged 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.”
It also urged 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.
Furthermore, the bill “mandated 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.”
