Members of the House of Representatives on Tuesday rejected a motion to evacuate Nigerians in China following the outbreak of the Coronavirus.
The federal lawmakers who voted massively against the motion raised by the spokesperson of the house, claimed that Benjamin Okezie, China has better facilities to handle the situation than Nigeria.
Efforts by the Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila to calm the lawmakers and allow Okezie to move his motion, turned abortive.
Drama ensued when two other sponsors of the bill who were meant to support the motion, declined to second the motion to be moved.
Earlier, The Herald reported that the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Zhou Pingjian, declared that no Nigerian living in China is infected with the dreaded coronavirus.
Pingjian who made this known in Abuja on Monday said Nigeria is so far unaffected by the virus, which has recorded 21,558 suspected cases with 361 persons dead since it broke out in China.
It was learnt that Nigerians who live in Wuhan, the Chinese city where coronavirus broke out two weeks ago, have called on the federal government to evacuate them.
Meanwhile, Lai Mohammed, minister of information, said 16 Nigerians who are in Wuhan have not indicated interest to return home.
According to him, “I know we have Nigerians in Wuhan; our Embassy in China has confirmed that we have about 16 Nigerians in Wuhan and they are in touch with them.
“They have, however, not indicated their interest to come home. They will, however, contact our embassy if they like to come home,”