The House of Representatives has resolved to investigate a Chinese firm situated in Edo State for treating its Nigerian workers like slaves and imprisoning them falsely for three months since the lockdown commenced in abuse of the Federal Government’s COVID-19 regulations.
The resolution followed the adoption of a motion moved by the Minority Leader, Honourable Ndudi Elumelu during the plenary presided over by the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila.
Later, the House directed the Inspector General of Police, IGP, Mohammed Abubakar Adamu to as a matter of urgency deploy a crack team of detectives to visit the company in a bid to verify the save-our-souls (SOS) message from the victims and to free the detained workers before further investigations commence.
In addition to the resolution, the House of Representatives members resolved that the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) be notified about the incidence so that they can ensure post-release management of the detained workers.
The House made it compulsory for “the relevant committees of the House to follow through on this report to ensure that an investigation is carried out and appropriate sanctions meted to the Chinese company if found culpable.”
While moving the motion, Honourable Elumelu revealed that Yongxing Chinese Steel Company situated at Ugua community of Edo State, was alleged to have restricted the movement of its Nigerian workers to the company’s facility alone, as such, these workers are being deprived of having access to their family members since March 24, 2020 till date.
He said that the workers who were more than 1,000, were locked up there in 10 persons per bunker, subjecting them to different hazards that had affected the health of most of the workers.
The lawmaker remarked that these workers have being forced to work like slaves 24 hours every day for three months.
The lawmaker voiced out concern that these workers were blackmailed not to disclose their new work conditions to anyone, failing which wpuld make them lose their jobs.
According to Elumelu, “through the company’s authority claims, the workers were held back for health and safety measures, but they were made to work within the precincts in gruelling conditions and compelled to swear to an oath of secrecy.
“Not only does the above situation amounts to an infringement of the fundamental right to liberty of the subjects, but to false imprisonment as well as a flagrant abuse of several laws of the land including the COVID-19 regulations 2020, labour laws and the Companies and Allied Matters Act 2004.”
The lawmaker recalled that amid the global pandemic, Nigerians were coerced to watch how Chinese authorities maltreated Nigerians in China by sending them to the streets without any kind of shelter and protection.
Elumelu made it known that this is another sad reminder of how the Chinese treat Nigerians badly in their own country and sadly too within the shores of Nigeria and the trend is getting out of hand while the act is totally unacceptable.
