Rauf Aregbesola, the Minister of Interior, has disclosed the mission of the 15 Chinese experts who came into the country in April.

While speaking at the daily press briefing of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 today May 19, Arebesola said the experts are in Nigeria on the bill of China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) to assist in building and equipping isolation centres.

He also refuted claims that they have been snuck out of Nigeria. 

“Indeed 15 Chinese nationals came into Nigeria on 8th of April. They are here on the bill of the CCECC, a Chinese company doing some works for us in Nigeria in conjunction with some Nigerian companies they agreed to support us in the effort to respond to the pandemic.

At Idu isolation centre in Abuja, they participated in retrofitting and equipping the isolation centre. They equally worked on the Dome project, that was handled by the NNPC Construction in conjunction with ThisDay.

So, those are the locations in which they came to work. Both in retrofitting the Iju facility and installing critical essential medical equipment” he said

He added that the Chinese experts came into Nigeria on a 30-day visa issued in Beijing and they are still in the country because there is a restriction on travel occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic.