FG Reveals Why Chinese Medical Team Are in the Country After PDP Issued Ultimatum to Declare their Whereabouts

The Federal Government has revealed why the 15-member Chinese medical team were still in the country after the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) issued an ultimatum to disclose their whereabouts.

The Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, who gave the disclosure on Tuesday in Abuja while responding to a question at Presidential Task Force (PTF) briefing on COVID-19, said a Chinese company operating in Nigeria brought them to support the efforts of the federal government in the fight against the spread of coronavirus.

“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,” Aregbesola said.

The whereabouts of the medical team became a national issue last week after the Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire last week at the daily Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 briefing said he does not know their whereabouts as they are not guests of the federal government.