There are at least 535 Nigerians in prison in China, jailed for drug-related offences.

Sources in Guangdong Province in The People’s Republic of China told Daily Sun, at the weekend, that at least two, out of 200 Nigerians, who visit the country, are arrested on drug-related offences in the capital, Guangzhou.

“Almost every week, we have drug-related issues. On Thursday, April 27, 2017, officials of the Nigerian Consulate went to some prisons to interview some of our citizens there and it was drug-related issues all through. Most of the drug pushers are from a particular state and a particular local government from that state. On the average, 200 Nigerians come into Guangzhou, and, out of that figure, at least, two are arrested on drug-related charges.

“The office also attends to three drugs issues on a weekly basis, which are either for arrests or going to court,” an official of the Consulate in Guangzhou, who declined to be named because he was not authorised to speak with the media, told Daily Sun.

He added that depending on the size of the drugs, the Nigerian convicts were either handed a death sentence or given long-term sentences.

Earlier, at a parley with the Nigerian media delegation, Nigeria’s Consul-General in China, Ambassador Wale Oloko, disclosed that 70,000 Nigerians visit Guangzhou, annually.

In company with his deputy, Adamu Shuaibu, Head of Consular and Immigration Affairs, Omeh Nwokpoku and the Head of Chancery, Falusi Oladapo, Oloko, who resumed in February, this year, also disclosed that China was moving from from manual to robotics and smart services.

With that in mind, some private Chinese investors, he said, were already visible along the Lagos, Ogun, and Abuja axis, with acquisition of thousands of hectares of land for industrial purposes.

“They want to have manufacturing facilities all over the world. So, Africans, Nigerians are the starting point because they can hardly meet the conditionality of the western worlds.”

Facilitator of the visit to the Consulate and Chairman of Blue Diamond Group, Festus Mbisiogu, however, disclosed that “Chinese investors in Nigeria prefer to construct railways, roads and airports because there is no conducive environment in Nigeria, with power being a major disadvantage. Only few Chinese investors are into manufacturing in Nigeria but there’s trade imbalance between both countries.” (Daily Sun)

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