The Federal Government has explained the mission and activities so far carried out by 15 Chinese experts who came into Nigeria to support the fight against COVID-19.
The Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola gave the explanation on Tuesday in Abuja, at the 34th joint national briefing of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19.
According to him, the Chinese medical experts are in Nigeria on the bill of the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) to assist in building and equipping isolation centres.
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There has been controversy on the whereabouts of the Chinese experts, after the Minister of Health last week Thursday at the PTF on COVID-19, told reporters he did not know the whereabouts of the Chinese visitors, saying they are not guests of the Federal Government but CCECC, a construction company.
Aregbesola said, “Indeed 15 Chinese nationals came into Nigeria on 8th of April. They are here on the bill of the CCECC, a Chinese company doing some works for us in Nigeria in conjunction with some Nigerian companies they agreed to support us in the effort to respond to the pandemic.
“At Idu isolation centre in Abuja, they participated in retrofitting and equipping the isolation centre. They equally worked on the Dome project, that was handled by the NNPC Construction in conjunction with ThisDay.
“So, those are the locations in which they came to work. Both in retrofitting the Iju facility and installing critical essential medical equipment,” the Minister explained.”
The minister said the Chinese experts came into Nigeria on a 30-day visa issued in Beijing and they are still in the country because there is a restriction on travel occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic.
