Not All 15 Chinese Visitors Are Medics, Nigerian Government Not Aware Of Their Whereabouts —Health Minister

Dr Osagie Ehanire, Nigeria’s Minister of Health, has said he was unaware of the location of 15 Chinese nationals, who recently came into the country to “help in the fight against COVID-19”.

On April 8, 2020, a Chinese medical team arrived the country with medical supplies to provide advice to the Nigerian Government on the fight against Coronavirus.

Ehanire while speaking during the daily COVID-19 Presidential Task Force briefing on Thursday however, revealed that not all of the visitors earlier announced as medics have something to do with the medical profession.

He added that the 15 Chinese were not guests of the Nigerian Government but of the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation.

He said, “I think not all of them were doctors and I heard that some of them are technicians, but they are staff of CCECC.

“The Ministry of Health is not their host, so we can’t always explain what happened to them or where they are. There seems to be a lot of interest in these doctors. But they are the staff of the company and I think that they are on a company visa.

“But we have been able to learn some things from them by interacting with them from their experience in their country and they did tell us and we shared ideas on what they did in their country in managing COVID-19.”