The-need-for-the-federal-government-to-investigate-and-address-the-reported-racial-discrimination-against-nigerians-and-other-africans-in-china-by-the-chinese-people-and-its-government
September 7, 2020 | News
THE NEED FOR THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO INVESTIGATE AND ADDRESS THE REPORTED RACIAL DISCRIMINATION AGAINST NIGERIANS AND OTHER AFRICANS IN CHINA BY THE CHINESE PEOPLE AND ITS GOVERNMENT
For some time now, there has been increasing reports of several cases of blatant racial discrimination against Nigerians and other African countries like Kenya and Uganda, by the citizens of China and its Government-recognized bodies like their Police, which makes one to wonder what the Nigerian Federal Government has done, or is doing to address this obviously ugly trend and dent to the bilateral relations the country has with China. There have been several articles, reports, online videos and social media posts/materials pointing to this particular issue, which many do not really talk about or consider serious.
There is this recent video being circulated on social media of a black-advocate, who, while describing some cases of racial discrimination practices in China, noted that the situation is so bad that “Kenyans, Ugandans and Nigerians cannot stay in any hotel in the city of Guangzhou, China.” The only explanation given by the said hoteliers is that “It is an Order from the Chinese Police”, instructing them not to host Black Africans. He also noted in the said video that: “legally, they (Africans, which includes Nigerians), are not able to buy land, open a shop, seek employment or start a business/factory in China… Also, you cannot have a bank account in China as an African. There are a lot of hostility from the Chinese people towards Africans… Yet, the same Chinese come to Africa to own lands, open shops, start big businesses/factories, etc. How can the Governments of Nigeria and other African countries allow this?” While we acknowledge the fact that there are indeed fake news out there, especially on social media, often created/generated and spread by online bloggers and other politically-influenced propagandas, however, what was said in the said video is not something new, neither is it something that has not been reported severally before now.
In the words of a frustrated Nigerian in China while complaining about this situation: “why are Chinese people so racist towards black people? I mean really. I am from Nigeria and I have lived in Guangzhou for 6 months already and I can tell you that a lot of people here really don’t like black people. What pisses me off so much is that there are so many more Chinese people who live in my country and yet they don’t get hassled anywhere near as much as we do in China! Why?”
When Beijing-based Nigerian Gloria Brown auditioned in October for a part in one of the world’s most-watched television programmes, she had no idea that the role she was hoping to play would spark a global debate on China’s attitudes to racism. The role, which Brown did not get, was that of an African mother in a 13-minute skit for state broadcaster CCTV’s Spring Festival Gala. The sketch was intended as a celebration of Sino-African ­relations but, after a Chinese ­actress in blackface was eventually chosen to play the role, it ­instead triggered allegations of discrimination and prejudice from around the world.
“Many friends posted [about the show] on WeChat,” Brown, 38, said. “Africans posted, Americans posted, Chinese posted. Ninety per cent of the people who commented that I saw on my WeChat were against the show, but there was, I think, two or three Chinese saying things like, ‘if you Africans don’t like this show then go back to your own country, don’t stay here’.” The backlash was so big that China’s foreign ministry felt obliged to comment on the ­matter, but it was far from apologizing for any offence that might have been caused. In the skit, the Chinese actress wore blackface, a fake large chest and exaggerated buttocks, and carried a bowl of fruit on her head. She appeared on stage and shouted in Mandarin: “I love Chinese people! I love China!” to raucous laughter from the audience. Despite the later outcry, Brown said she had no bad feelings about missing out on the role and had not been overly offended by the way in which the African character had been portrayed.
While China is undoubtedly investing heavily in African countries, the relationship was not as simple as it might seem, said 21-year old Nigerian Daniel Aniekan, who is studying medicine in eastern China’s Jiangxi province. If China wanted to build better economic relationships with African countries, it should also seek to bring people closer together, he said. “Those in authority should try as much as possible to stop things [like the CCTV skit] happening, because it hurts the partnerships that everyone is trying to build. Instead of bringing unity, it brings discrimination,” he said.
Some few months ago, a video-clip of a studio interview of Dr. Umar Johnson, a Clinical/Certified School Psychologist and social activist, surfaced online of his personal experience when he visited China and Japan. Johnson noted how blacks (Africans) are not treated well at all in China. In fact, he expressed that, the extent at which racism is practiced ‘openly’ in China and Japan, is quite disturbing. In his word: “At least in America and in UK, there is a ‘Civil Rights’ culture, so racism is put under and covered. But in comparism, there are certain places you cannot go into in China as a black man. They have signs with ‘No Blacks Allowed’. There are certain nightclubs, certain sections of certain neighborhoods you cannot live in China as a black man. The irony of all this is that Africa, is rolling out the red-carpet for China and other Asian countries. China are taking over the Caribbean and Africa. They are all in South-Africa. “You have to remember that China is overpopulated. So, they are always looking for opportunities outside to dump some of their excess population. Do you know what is sad, Chinese will come to Africa poor, with nothing! And in three years, they are owing two or three major businesses, because what happens is that when the Chinese come, they employ more of their labour, they do not employ much of the indigenous labour. They are showing up broke, and going back as millionaires,” Dr. Umar Johnson emphasized.
That to us, is racial discrimination of the highest order against Nigerians and other Africans doing any business in China. The truth is, if there are certain things that are denied Nigerians, legitimately wanting to do business or stay in China, then we believe the Chinese people should be given a red-carpet treatment back at home. The above situation is an “unequal trade” between any two nations. This situation is said to be predominant in the city of Guangzhou, which is home to the largest concentration of Africans, with estimation of about 200,000. Guangzhou is situated at the heart of the most-populous built-up metropolitan area in mainland China. Since China's economic boom in the 1990s, thousands of Africans mostly from West Africa migrated to China. In Guangzhou, Africans are generally engaged in commerce, visiting or residing in the city because of its wholesale trading markets supplied by nearby factories. During the 2000s, the city's African population rapidly increased with a 2008 news report stating the number of African residents had increased by 30% to 40% annually.
Agreed that a number of African countries have become increasingly drawn to China’s supposed “no-strings attached” development assistance and promises of growth, but while these policies certainly create economic gains for Africa, the vestiges of colonialism evident in this relationship raise questions about the true cost of realizing these benefits. Currently the continent’s largest trading partner, China relies on African markets for a steady flow of natural resources to sustain manufacturing. The African resources China imports are varied, covering everything from oil, to iron ore, timber, and copper. In exchange for broad access to resources, China exports cheap manufactured goods back to its trading partners, builds much needed infrastructure, provides foreign direct investments, and loans out billions of dollars. In 2014 alone, the value of this trade totaled over $200 billion. Furthermore, over half of China’s foreign aid is distributed in Africa. Though, advocates of this inflow of money claim it spurs development, but if we look carefully, we would see that China’s policies in Africa paint a picture of ‘trade imbalances’ that are handicapping the nations involved, while grossly advantaging China at the expense of the African people.
The bottom line is that the Chinese come here in Nigeria to open up businesses and carry out large scale infrastructural projects, and they are treated with respect. It is therefore expected that they need to treat Nigerians in China with the same respect as human beings. It is only when a Nigerian is found to have to have broken the laws of China, that such a person should be made to face the music in accordance to acceptable justice system. Other than that, Nigerians doing legitimate businesses in China should not be discriminated in any way by the Chinese people and its Security Operatives. There is therefore need for a detail investigation to be made on this racial discrimination prevalence in China against Nigerians. The Nigerian government should learn to stand up firmly to defend its citizens any across the world, not only in China.
Let this also be another wake up call for the Nigerian government and other African nations, to aggressively develop their countries. Though, this will not be an easy task to actualize in Nigeria, going by her multi-ethnic and multi-cultural nature, nothing is impossible if the right things are done by the political class. China was nothing some decades ago until they got their acts together. China rose from obscurity and abandonment, to become a world power today. The question is, why can’t Nigeria, with similar experiences like that of China, rise from the ashes to become an economic power in the continent of Africa and the world too? It was Mao Zedong, who secured the future for China. At the beginning of the 20th Century, China was as backward as Nigeria. The country was divided by several colonizing powers, especially Japan and Britain. Though, the puppet emperor was toppled, foreign influence was still dominant despite the nationalist uprisings. Mao became one of the founders of the Communist Party in 1927, the year the Chinese Civil War started, and the fledgling movement was soon pitched against the entrenched regime of the Kuomintang led by Generalissimo Kai-Shek. The Civil War was fought with profound ferocity and after 22 years of struggle, the Communists came to power on October 1, 1949. That day, at the Gate of Heavenly Peace in Beijing, Mao declared: “The Chinese people have stood up.” Mao was a communist and he believed that the communist super power, the Soviet Union, would help China to industrialize. Soviet experts came in to help build roads, rail lines, airports and schools. They not only wanted to control China, they wanted to own it. China-Soviet split was inevitable and by 1958, China was struggling for freedom from its strong friend, the Soviet Union.
As they were pulling out, the Russians dismantled factories, ripped off rail lines and destroyed electric pylons and rendered the Chinese economy comatose. China became an isolated country, with only Albania, as its friend as most of the other communist countries sided with the Soviet Union. Faced with this great crisis, Mao decided on both the short term and the long-term solutions. In the short term, China decided to rely on its inner strength, knowledge and resources. In the long run, it sent its students to study in the best universities in Europe and the United States, to acquire knowledge that would help to transform China into a modern country. By 1972, American President Richard Nixon visited Beijing and ended the era of Chinese isolation. Today, China is the second largest economic power. Its investment in knowledge acquisition all over the world has paid off. Its students continue to dominate many top universities in the world. The rulers of China focused on the imperatives of planning, persistence and implementation. They know that for China to join the league of developed nations, it must provide employment, encourage skill acquisition and improve the standard of living. Today, China manufactures everything from toothpicks to torpedoes, from cars to aircraft carriers. Today, Nigeria imports everything, including power generating sets and the ceremonial uniforms of its generals.
Recently, President Muhammadu Buhari requested the Chinese Government to help the West African States in the areas of economic development, visa facilitation for businesspersons and students, tourism infrastructure, as well as Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs). He spoke in Beijing, China and stressed that the Chinese government’s economic help to West Africa must be complemented by the push from the member States in order to achieve the desired economic transformation. The problem we have with this is the fact that the President’s appeal is totally unnecessary because China, like most developed countries of Europe, will never honestly and wholeheartedly develop the countries in Africa and Nigeria because that will automatically mean Nigeria and other West African countries will no longer be patronizing Made-In-China goods, which China desperately want to maintain because the huge amount of money they make from exports to West Africa. So, the President’s request/appeal will not be possible. There is a large extent to which the Chinese Government can do towards the development of West African States. Look at all the Generators, cars, clothes, furniture down to toothpicks, etc. that Nigeria yearly import from China, which obviously boosts their economy. Do we think they would want any serious development in West Africa that would ‘add sand to their rice’? Obviously not! China would want us to continue patronizing their goods/products for life. The Chinese Government knows that if Nigeria is fully developed, their country will become economically irrelevant to Nigeria. Nigeria on the other hand, has all the human and natural capital resources to develop, including the population market. But all Nigeria lacks is the ‘Good leadership’, and ignorance of the Nigerian public. What most people do in Nigeria is just to acquire degrees, diplomas and certificates without actually acquiring the required knowledge and wisdom to bring about real transformation and development. The Nigerian elites and certificated persons are still superstitious in this modern age. Their arguments at times make one to wonder if actually they were educated/certificated because they still live largely in a world of ignorance.
China/Nigeria Investment and economic relations may not be transparent as expected because a lot of fake goods are imported from China to Nigeria. And Nigerian officials may likely strike a deal with the Chinese since China is not known to repatriate stolen funds from African countries. We hear of Nigerians facing financial crimes being charged in the UK, which we do not hear from China and China has not really demonstrated any diplomatic disposition to suggest that they will do such for the Nigerian Government. All that we believe China needs is for the Nigerian Government to continue to patronize them. Nigerian politicians and importers even make things easy for China as they are known to cooperate with the Chinese to cheat on Nigerians. Substandard/fake goods enter Nigeria from China since China, obviously encourages corruption. Agreed that China has the technology but China does not have the ‘business integrity’ as the European countries and the US have. The Chinese are ready to cooperate with any corrupt Nigerian politician or business man/woman to cheat on Nigerians, as long as the Chinese and those Nigerians involved are benefitting from such illegitimate deals. Sooner or later, Nigerian politicians and their fronts will be starching their stolen loots from Nigeria to China, that is, if they have not even started doing so. These are some of the difficult challenges we see in the Nigerian/China investment and economic relationship.
Like we have often reiterated, no foreigner can effectively and efficiently develop our country for us. That onerous task, no matter how challenging it might seem, only belongs to us and can best be done by us. All these global trotting by Nigerian leaders of wooing investors are uncalled for. If the Nigerian Government and people are really ready to embrace development with open hearts and minds, investors will naturally troop into the country and beg to invest in Nigeria. Buhari and his officials should know this fact. So, it is high time our political leaders stop making excuses and start thinking in this direction in developing this nation and get it out of the league of Third World countries in no distant future. This will greatly reduce the sort of discrimination meted out on Nigerians in foreign countries.
Zik Gbemre, JP.
We Mobilize Others to Fight for Individual Causes as if Those Were Our Causes
For some time now, there has been increasing reports of several cases of blatant racial discrimination against Nigerians and other African countries like Kenya and Uganda, by the citizens of China and its Government-recognized bodies like their Police, which makes one to wonder what the Nigerian Federal Government has done, or is doing to address this obviously ugly trend and dent to the bilateral relations the country has with China. There have been several articles, reports, online videos and social media posts/materials pointing to this particular issue, which many do not really talk about or consider serious.
There is this recent video being circulated on social media of a black-advocate, who, while describing some cases of racial discrimination practices in China, noted that the situation is so bad that “Kenyans, Ugandans and Nigerians cannot stay in any hotel in the city of Guangzhou, China.” The only explanation given by the said hoteliers is that “It is an Order from the Chinese Police”, instructing them not to host Black Africans. He also noted in the said video that: “legally, they (Africans, which includes Nigerians), are not able to buy land, open a shop, seek employment or start a business/factory in China… Also, you cannot have a bank account in China as an African. There are a lot of hostility from the Chinese people towards Africans… Yet, the same Chinese come to Africa to own lands, open shops, start big businesses/factories, etc. How can the Governments of Nigeria and other African countries allow this?” While we acknowledge the fact that there are indeed fake news out there, especially on social media, often created/generated and spread by online bloggers and other politically-influenced propagandas, however, what was said in the said video is not something new, neither is it something that has not been reported severally before now.
In the words of a frustrated Nigerian in China while complaining about this situation: “why are Chinese people so racist towards black people? I mean really. I am from Nigeria and I have lived in Guangzhou for 6 months already and I can tell you that a lot of people here really don’t like black people. What pisses me off so much is that there are so many more Chinese people who live in my country and yet they don’t get hassled anywhere near as much as we do in China! Why?”
When Beijing-based Nigerian Gloria Brown auditioned in October for a part in one of the world’s most-watched television programmes, she had no idea that the role she was hoping to play would spark a global debate on China’s attitudes to racism. The role, which Brown did not get, was that of an African mother in a 13-minute skit for state broadcaster CCTV’s Spring Festival Gala. The sketch was intended as a celebration of Sino-African ­relations but, after a Chinese ­actress in blackface was eventually chosen to play the role, it ­instead triggered allegations of discrimination and prejudice from around the world.
“Many friends posted [about the show] on WeChat,” Brown, 38, said. “Africans posted, Americans posted, Chinese posted. Ninety per cent of the people who commented that I saw on my WeChat were against the show, but there was, I think, two or three Chinese saying things like, ‘if you Africans don’t like this show then go back to your own country, don’t stay here’.” The backlash was so big that China’s foreign ministry felt obliged to comment on the ­matter, but it was far from apologizing for any offence that might have been caused. In the skit, the Chinese actress wore blackface, a fake large chest and exaggerated buttocks, and carried a bowl of fruit on her head. She appeared on stage and shouted in Mandarin: “I love Chinese people! I love China!” to raucous laughter from the audience. Despite the later outcry, Brown said she had no bad feelings about missing out on the role and had not been overly offended by the way in which the African character had been portrayed.
While China is undoubtedly investing heavily in African countries, the relationship was not as simple as it might seem, said 21-year old Nigerian Daniel Aniekan, who is studying medicine in eastern China’s Jiangxi province. If China wanted to build better economic relationships with African countries, it should also seek to bring people closer together, he said. “Those in authority should try as much as possible to stop things [like the CCTV skit] happening, because it hurts the partnerships that everyone is trying to build. Instead of bringing unity, it brings discrimination,” he said.
Some few months ago, a video-clip of a studio interview of Dr. Umar Johnson, a Clinical/Certified School Psychologist and social activist, surfaced online of his personal experience when he visited China and Japan. Johnson noted how blacks (Africans) are not treated well at all in China. In fact, he expressed that, the extent at which racism is practiced ‘openly’ in China and Japan, is quite disturbing. In his word: “At least in America and in UK, there is a ‘Civil Rights’ culture, so racism is put under and covered. But in comparism, there are certain places you cannot go into in China as a black man. They have signs with ‘No Blacks Allowed’. There are certain nightclubs, certain sections of certain neighborhoods you cannot live in China as a black man. The irony of all this is that Africa, is rolling out the red-carpet for China and other Asian countries. China are taking over the Caribbean and Africa. They are all in South-Africa. “You have to remember that China is overpopulated. So, they are always looking for opportunities outside to dump some of their excess population. Do you know what is sad, Chinese will come to Africa poor, with nothing! And in three years, they are owing two or three major businesses, because what happens is that when the Chinese come, they employ more of their labour, they do not employ much of the indigenous labour. They are showing up broke, and going back as millionaires,” Dr. Umar Johnson emphasized.
That to us, is racial discrimination of the highest order against Nigerians and other Africans doing any business in China. The truth is, if there are certain things that are denied Nigerians, legitimately wanting to do business or stay in China, then we believe the Chinese people should be given a red-carpet treatment back at home. The above situation is an “unequal trade” between any two nations. This situation is said to be predominant in the city of Guangzhou, which is home to the largest concentration of Africans, with estimation of about 200,000. Guangzhou is situated at the heart of the most-populous built-up metropolitan area in mainland China. Since China's economic boom in the 1990s, thousands of Africans mostly from West Africa migrated to China. In Guangzhou, Africans are generally engaged in commerce, visiting or residing in the city because of its wholesale trading markets supplied by nearby factories. During the 2000s, the city's African population rapidly increased with a 2008 news report stating the number of African residents had increased by 30% to 40% annually.
Agreed that a number of African countries have become increasingly drawn to China’s supposed “no-strings attached” development assistance and promises of growth, but while these policies certainly create economic gains for Africa, the vestiges of colonialism evident in this relationship raise questions about the true cost of realizing these benefits. Currently the continent’s largest trading partner, China relies on African markets for a steady flow of natural resources to sustain manufacturing. The African resources China imports are varied, covering everything from oil, to iron ore, timber, and copper. In exchange for broad access to resources, China exports cheap manufactured goods back to its trading partners, builds much needed infrastructure, provides foreign direct investments, and loans out billions of dollars. In 2014 alone, the value of this trade totaled over $200 billion. Furthermore, over half of China’s foreign aid is distributed in Africa. Though, advocates of this inflow of money claim it spurs development, but if we look carefully, we would see that China’s policies in Africa paint a picture of ‘trade imbalances’ that are handicapping the nations involved, while grossly advantaging China at the expense of the African people.
The bottom line is that the Chinese come here in Nigeria to open up businesses and carry out large scale infrastructural projects, and they are treated with respect. It is therefore expected that they need to treat Nigerians in China with the same respect as human beings. It is only when a Nigerian is found to have to have broken the laws of China, that such a person should be made to face the music in accordance to acceptable justice system. Other than that, Nigerians doing legitimate businesses in China should not be discriminated in any way by the Chinese people and its Security Operatives. There is therefore need for a detail investigation to be made on this racial discrimination prevalence in China against Nigerians. The Nigerian government should learn to stand up firmly to defend its citizens any across the world, not only in China.
Let this also be another wake up call for the Nigerian government and other African nations, to aggressively develop their countries. Though, this will not be an easy task to actualize in Nigeria, going by her multi-ethnic and multi-cultural nature, nothing is impossible if the right things are done by the political class. China was nothing some decades ago until they got their acts together. China rose from obscurity and abandonment, to become a world power today. The question is, why can’t Nigeria, with similar experiences like that of China, rise from the ashes to become an economic power in the continent of Africa and the world too? It was Mao Zedong, who secured the future for China. At the beginning of the 20th Century, China was as backward as Nigeria. The country was divided by several colonizing powers, especially Japan and Britain. Though, the puppet emperor was toppled, foreign influence was still dominant despite the nationalist uprisings. Mao became one of the founders of the Communist Party in 1927, the year the Chinese Civil War started, and the fledgling movement was soon pitched against the entrenched regime of the Kuomintang led by Generalissimo Kai-Shek. The Civil War was fought with profound ferocity and after 22 years of struggle, the Communists came to power on October 1, 1949. That day, at the Gate of Heavenly Peace in Beijing, Mao declared: “The Chinese people have stood up.” Mao was a communist and he believed that the communist super power, the Soviet Union, would help China to industrialize. Soviet experts came in to help build roads, rail lines, airports and schools. They not only wanted to control China, they wanted to own it. China-Soviet split was inevitable and by 1958, China was struggling for freedom from its strong friend, the Soviet Union.
As they were pulling out, the Russians dismantled factories, ripped off rail lines and destroyed electric pylons and rendered the Chinese economy comatose. China became an isolated country, with only Albania, as its friend as most of the other communist countries sided with the Soviet Union. Faced with this great crisis, Mao decided on both the short term and the long-term solutions. In the short term, China decided to rely on its inner strength, knowledge and resources. In the long run, it sent its students to study in the best universities in Europe and the United States, to acquire knowledge that would help to transform China into a modern country. By 1972, American President Richard Nixon visited Beijing and ended the era of Chinese isolation. Today, China is the second largest economic power. Its investment in knowledge acquisition all over the world has paid off. Its students continue to dominate many top universities in the world. The rulers of China focused on the imperatives of planning, persistence and implementation. They know that for China to join the league of developed nations, it must provide employment, encourage skill acquisition and improve the standard of living. Today, China manufactures everything from toothpicks to torpedoes, from cars to aircraft carriers. Today, Nigeria imports everything, including power generating sets and the ceremonial uniforms of its generals.
Recently, President Muhammadu Buhari requested the Chinese Government to help the West African States in the areas of economic development, visa facilitation for businesspersons and students, tourism infrastructure, as well as Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs). He spoke in Beijing, China and stressed that the Chinese government’s economic help to West Africa must be complemented by the push from the member States in order to achieve the desired economic transformation. The problem we have with this is the fact that the President’s appeal is totally unnecessary because China, like most developed countries of Europe, will never honestly and wholeheartedly develop the countries in Africa and Nigeria because that will automatically mean Nigeria and other West African countries will no longer be patronizing Made-In-China goods, which China desperately want to maintain because the huge amount of money they make from exports to West Africa. So, the President’s request/appeal will not be possible. There is a large extent to which the Chinese Government can do towards the development of West African States. Look at all the Generators, cars, clothes, furniture down to toothpicks, etc. that Nigeria yearly import from China, which obviously boosts their economy. Do we think they would want any serious development in West Africa that would ‘add sand to their rice’? Obviously not! China would want us to continue patronizing their goods/products for life. The Chinese Government knows that if Nigeria is fully developed, their country will become economically irrelevant to Nigeria. Nigeria on the other hand, has all the human and natural capital resources to develop, including the population market. But all Nigeria lacks is the ‘Good leadership’, and ignorance of the Nigerian public. What most people do in Nigeria is just to acquire degrees, diplomas and certificates without actually acquiring the required knowledge and wisdom to bring about real transformation and development. The Nigerian elites and certificated persons are still superstitious in this modern age. Their arguments at times make one to wonder if actually they were educated/certificated because they still live largely in a world of ignorance.
China/Nigeria Investment and economic relations may not be transparent as expected because a lot of fake goods are imported from China to Nigeria. And Nigerian officials may likely strike a deal with the Chinese since China is not known to repatriate stolen funds from African countries. We hear of Nigerians facing financial crimes being charged in the UK, which we do not hear from China and China has not really demonstrated any diplomatic disposition to suggest that they will do such for the Nigerian Government. All that we believe China needs is for the Nigerian Government to continue to patronize them. Nigerian politicians and importers even make things easy for China as they are known to cooperate with the Chinese to cheat on Nigerians. Substandard/fake goods enter Nigeria from China since China, obviously encourages corruption. Agreed that China has the technology but China does not have the ‘business integrity’ as the European countries and the US have. The Chinese are ready to cooperate with any corrupt Nigerian politician or business man/woman to cheat on Nigerians, as long as the Chinese and those Nigerians involved are benefitting from such illegitimate deals. Sooner or later, Nigerian politicians and their fronts will be starching their stolen loots from Nigeria to China, that is, if they have not even started doing so. These are some of the difficult challenges we see in the Nigerian/China investment and economic relationship.
Like we have often reiterated, no foreigner can effectively and efficiently develop our country for us. That onerous task, no matter how challenging it might seem, only belongs to us and can best be done by us. All these global trotting by Nigerian leaders of wooing investors are uncalled for. If the Nigerian Government and people are really ready to embrace development with open hearts and minds, investors will naturally troop into the country and beg to invest in Nigeria. Buhari and his officials should know this fact. So, it is high time our political leaders stop making excuses and start thinking in this direction in developing this nation and get it out of the league of Third World countries in no distant future. This will greatly reduce the sort of discrimination meted out on Nigerians in foreign countries.
Zik Gbemre, JP.
We Mobilize Others to Fight for Individual Causes as if Those Were Our Causes