Nigeria MPs have asked the government to investigate the status of Chinese residents in the country, saying some may be staying there illegally.
The demand follows allegations that Nigerians in China, especially those in jail, are being mistreated.
The MPs asked the government to reject a request by the Chinese authorities to cremate the bodies of 30 Nigerians who have died in Chinese jails.
There are an estimated 700 Nigerians currently in prison in China.
The BBC’s Chris Ewokor in Abuja says they are mainly charged with immigration, drug or fraud offences.
Trade between Nigeria and China is booming and an estimated 20,000 Chinese people live in Nigeria, he says.
n July, a group of Africans staged a rare protest in the city of Guangzhou after a Nigerian man was reported to have died running away from police there.
The Nigerian lawmakers want the government to conduct an audit to determine how many illegal Chinese immigrants there are in the country.
The row comes after the Chinese government, through its embassy in Nigeria, sought permission to cremate the 30 corpses of Nigerian prisoners, saying their relatives cannot be traced.
At a press conference, the head of the House of Representatives Committee on the Diaspora, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, said Nigeria could no longer accept a situation where its people were being “maltreated and dehumanized abroad”.
Her colleague MP Samson Osagie told the BBC he believed there should be a “harmonious diplomatic” relationship between Nigeria and China.
But he said Nigerians were not the only people to commit immigration offences.
“Let us find out if all the Chinese in Nigeria are legally resident,” he told the BBC’s Network Africa programme.
Our reporters says the government is yet to say what action it intends to take.
Source: BBC
The chinese govt. Are really ma-treating nigerians bcos our govt doesn’t care about its citizen welfare yet,there are chinese nationals In nigeria moving about freely
our govt is fucked. Look at other country the way they attend to their citizen both death & alive. But our own don’t b surprise our diplomatic officer posted in china might b behind all these maltreatment melted on nigerians their. They refuse to know what they are posted to do only for selfish interest not for interest of the citizen ,not only in china. All our ambassadors are failure, they should go & learn diplomatic job well before embarking on their duties overseas, can u imagine an ambassador is collaborating with authority to get nigerian deported, is that wise if i may ask, lack of defence to his fellow citizen zero, that foolish oyibo man is worship back home like a king,
My country people make we no talk in that way cos Hausa people says ‘in bera da sata daddawa ma de ware take.