By our reporter| The Chinese medical team who arrived in Nigeria on April 8, to help with the fight against COVID-19, are still in the country eventhough their visas have expired, Rauf Aregbesola, the minister of interior has confirmed.
Aregbesola who made the disclosure at the briefing of the presidential task force on COVID-19 on Tuesday, said the team members were issued a 30-day visa in Beijing, China but have been unable to return their country due to the restriction placed on air travels.
The minister said, “Indeed 15 Chinese nationals came into Nigeria on the 8th of April.”
“From everything we have heard and said, they were here on the bill of CCECC, a Chinese company working in Nigeria, doing some work for us in several places. And in conjunction with some Nigerian companies, they agreed to support us with efforts to respond to the pandemic.
“At Idu, they participated in retrofitting and equipping the isolation centre there. They equally worked on the dome project that was handled by the NNPC consortium in conjunction with THISDAY. Those are the location in which they came to work”.
“Fifteen of them came in on April 8. They came on a 30-day visa issued in Beijing but they are still here.
“They are still here not because they have not completed their job but because there is a restriction on travels in Nigeria occasioned by the COVID-19 protocols.”
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