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In the intricate web of global affairs, the relationship between China and Nigeria is a testament to both promise and peril. While bilateral agreements and economic ventures paint a picture of cooperation and mutual benefit, some say they pose discrimination threats.
Gistlover’s blog on Instagram posted the video of a man who claimed that there is a supermarket in Abuja where Nigerians are not allowed to shop. In the video, the man expressed annoyance as he was denied entry into the store.
“Wonders shall never end. There is a supermarket I saw online that is a Chinese supermarket. They have Chinese food, ramen, and other things. I wanted to go there and check it out but I was denied entry. The security officers at the gate said the supermarket was strictly for Chinese people and no Nigerian was allowed to go inside or buy anything. Is that possible in China?” the man queried.
Reacting to the video, Funmilayotaiwoewa wrote, “Obviously, they must have something prohibited there. The government needs to inspect that place with immediate effect.”
Another user, iphuunanya confused about the development replied, “But I have gone here now. Last year. Unless it is a new policy. Is this true?”
Since it was posted on Apr. 21, 2024, the video has garnered 23,553 likes, 1,841 comments, and 1826 shares.
The reputation of the countries involved and the national and economic implications of the claim made DUBAWA verify the claim.
Verification
DUBAWA visited the Chinese Chamber of Commerce located at Umar Musa Yar’Adua Road on Monday, Apr. 22, 2024. When the team entered the estate, they were led to the housing unit where the Chinese supermarket is located, but they observed the property was under lock and key.
However, the team met and spoke to the Assistant Facility Manager, Sanusi Shuaibu.
Mr Shuaibu stated that like other house properties in the Royal Choice estate, a housing unit was rented out to the Chinese supermarket owners about three years ago. He further discounted the public view that the estate property is owned by the Chinese supermarket owners and clarified that it is within the premises of the Royal Choice Estate, which builds and rents house properties to people.
The Assistant Facility Manager then stated that while he travelled four days ago, news filtered in that the Chinese supermarket in the estate where he manages discriminated against Nigerians from purchasing products from the supermarket.
“No, that is not the case,” The Assistant Facility Manager disagreed.
“If we (estate management) hear (such) information, it is either you leave or open your shop to everybody,” Mr Shuaibu maintained.
He disclosed that if the estate management indulges in such discriminatory behaviour, it would create an impression that they are supporting the Chinese owners with something illegal.
Querying the Assistant Facility Manager who shut the Chinese supermarket, he said that it was the Chinese owners who did that. “They shut (the supermarket),” Mr Shuaibu disclosed.
Further inquiring about his assessment of the reason the supermarket was locked, he stated that he wished that the estate management had received prior information about the whole situation. They would have apprehended the Chinese owners for an explanation.
“We would have held them. If you like, lock your gate, but you cannot pass the main gate,” he asserted.
Probing him on whether non-Chinese individuals frequent the supermarket, the Assistant Facility Manager explained that they have never stopped him from purchasing commodities from the supermarket.
“But they have not stopped someone like me from coming there…If they had stopped me, then I would have investigated (for the reason) they were stopping me. Maybe I would have known their reason for stopping (Nigerians) from coming.” Mr Shuaibu explained.
“Maybe it is (Nigerians) from outside alone. But nobody here (the estate) has said that they have ever (been stopped),” he added.
He told DUBAWA that customers had not visited the supermarket that day, aside from media outlets and the Department of Social Services (DSS). He further stated he had come in about eight o’clock in the morning after the DSS left and met the supermarket locked. He thereafter reached out to the supermarket’s owner via phone call, but it was not accessible.
Asking him if the DSS left any directive for the supermarket owners to respond to the situation, the Assistant Facility Manager informed that the DSS operative ordered the owners to appear before them within 24 hours.
“They gave them 24 hours to show up in their office. So if they fail to come, they would use other means to find them,” the Assistant Facility Manager disclosed.
He also revealed that the estate management requested an order to permit them to break into the supermarket to find out why the owners do not want Nigerians in their store.
He further responded to the inquiry of whether the Chinese occupied the estate. He stated that although the tenants are Chinese, Nigerians work for them. He also stated that before the incident, there had not been any report of discrimination, as Nigerians frequent the supermarket.
Mr Shuaibu also disclosed that the average number of customers who patronise the supermarket is between 15 to 20 persons, most of whom are Chinese.
FCCPC shutdown and a summon order
Following a Channels Television report that the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) had visited the supermarket later that day and shut it down. DUBAWA contacted the Assistant Facility Manager to get details of the development.
The Assistant Facility Manager, Mr Shuaibu, told DUBAWA that, indeed, the FCCPC had visited the supermarket and found the property still locked. However, the commission sealed the property and summoned the supermarket owners to their offices.
Mr Shuaibu further disclosed that the estate management has also been summoned by the FCCPC. He disclosed that they are expected to be at the FCCPC office on Wednesday, Apr. 24, 2024, by 11 a.m.
“We are to come (to the FCCPC office) on Wednesday by eleven o’clock in the morning,” he told DUBAWA via phone call.
Chinese owners threaten to dismiss security guards over video negligence
An anonymous source, who is well informed about the matter, has divulged to DUBAWA that the security guards of Royal Choice estate are on the brink of losing their jobs over video negligence.
The source relayed that their Chinese employees had told the security guards that they would be dismissed from their jobs.
“They are going to sack them and replace them with other people,” the source informed DUBAWA.
The source informed DUBAWA that the security guards were called to the office within the estate premises and told the rather worrying news.
DUBAWA learned that the development stemmed from the incident that occurred on Sunday. Two Nigerians attempted to access the Chinese supermarket but were refused by the security guards they met at the estate’s main entrance. The source told DUBAWA that the supermarket owners were displeased with the security guards for being negligent when one of the Nigerians decided to video them refusing their entrance.
The source further told DUBAWA that the security guard, who was ignorant that he was being filmed at the time, was surprised when he saw himself on social media. Upon being confronted, he told his employees that,
“He (did not) know. They were only just asking him the instructions that you (Chinese owners) gave to me, and that is what I told them.”
However, the supermarket owners refused the security guard’s explanations and stated that he and his other colleagues (including those who were off duty) would be sacked.
Meanwhile, when DUBAWA contacted the Chief Security Officer of the estate, a job also handled by the Assistant Facility Manager, Mr Shuaibu, he claimed that he was unaware of such a development.
Conclusion
Ongoing investigations revealed that while the Chinese owners have remained evasive to official inquiries and their property locked and sealed, they have been served a summon order by the FCCPC.
