Next month, President Buhari is expected to visit Beijing to facilitate the implementation of agreements he reached with Chinese premier Xi Jinping at the 2015 China-African summit in Johannesburg. However, despite plans by the two countries to enhance trade, the Chinese authorities are maltreating Nigerians in their country, sometimes for no just reason.
Francis Jones, a Nigerian, who travelled to China with hopes and dreams of greener pastures, ended up being jailed for 15months under the most inhumane treatment. Mr Jones who spoke at a recent rally held to create awareness on the plight of Nigerians in Chinese prisons, said his problem started from a false accusation that led to an invitation to the police station and then the courtroom to prison.
He was charged with assaulting his Chinese wife and consequently arraigned and jailed where among other things he was not allowed access to anyone. According to Mr Jones, Nigerian prisoners are also used as slave labour to manufacture goods for the Chinese economy.
Mr Jones added: “I was detained for a year and three months without making calls. I was not allowed to contact my people nor were they allowed to see me for an issue that I was asked to come and clear myself.
“I was accused of violating my wife’s rights that I touched her, whereas I didn’t, which did not warrant being detained for an hour. Whoever wants to go to China should be careful as those people are dangerous.”
He said due to the challenge of language barriers, some Nigerians in detention do not know what is being said during their trial, since it is conducted in Chinese, adding that after that, long sentences are handed to first time offenders. Mr Jones, said he attended the rally because he had witnessed first-hand what Nigerians go through in Chinese prisons.
“Nigerians in Chinese prisons are used as labourers in producing most things made in China, yet they are not paid up to the minimum wage. They set targets based on what machines produce and if you don’t meet the target, your sentence won’t be commuted.”
“What is happening there is really scary and I never pray for anyone to experience it because it is hell on earth. What we read in the news is different from how the Chinese treat Nigerians there as they treat the black people like animals, trade human organs and subject people to hard labour," Mr Jones added.
Like Mr Jones, another returnee prisoner Chidi Cruiz, attended the rally and said close to 80 Nigerians died in Chinese prisons over last year. He pleaded with the Nigerian government to do something urgently or bring them back home to serve their sentence as he spent nine years in jail treated like an animal.
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