Maltreatment of Africans in China Following Virus Infections Prompts Backlash in Nigeria

Maltreatment of Africans in China Following Virus Infections Prompts Backlash in Nigeria
A Port Health Service staff member stands next to a thermal scanner as passengers arrive at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos, Nigeria, on January 27, 2019. PIUS UTOMI EKPEI/AFP via Getty Images
Updated:

LAGOS, Nigeria—Asita Awovie left Nigeria last year on a scholarship to study Civil Engineering at the Chang'an University in the Shaanxi province of China. After less than a year in the country, Asita says he wants to return home and never go back to China.

Asita’s parents mounted pressure on him to return home ever since videos of maltreatment of Nigerians and other Africans in Guangzhou and other parts of China surfaced on social media last week, fuelling safety concerns.