Last Updated on April 29, 2020
Nigerian lawyers have come together to chalk up an eye-watering invoice for damages caused due to the coronavirus global pandemic.
According to The Nigerian Daily Post, a coalition of Nigerian legal practitioners are demanding $200 billion as damages for the “loss of lives, economic strangulation, trauma, hardship, social disorientation, mental torture and disruption of the normal daily existence of people in Nigeria.”
This comes at a time where footage of enraged young Nigerians burning down a China-run business outside of Lagos, and other images around Africa displaying violent sentiments towards the minority Chinese population have emerged.
Prof. Epiphany Azinge, a member of the Commonwealth Arbitral Tribunal London, representing Nigeria and Africa, from the law firm Azinge and Azinge, has led the class action suit against the Chinese government.
In a statement, he wrote: “The team of legal experts planned a two-phase line of action-: first is with the federal high court of Nigeria and secondly to persuade the government of Federal Republic of Nigeria to institute a state action against the People’s Republic of China at the International Court of Justice at the Hague
“The legal experts will be claiming damages to the tune of 200billion dollars, the Chinese Government will be served through its Embassy in Nigeria.”
African sentiment towards China has been further worsened by the coronavirus.
The news of Chinese mistreatment of African migrants has reportedly hit the continent hard, stoking Sinophobic resentment–compounding the pre-existing tensions over China’s silent colonization of the continent.
According to Kenyan Report, a Kenyan senator railed against his government’s stance on China and demanded for all Chinese residents to be expelled.
A potential diplomatic crisis over China’s treatment of African migrants has emerged. Meanwhile, African’s have vocally resisted Chinese economic encroachment.
Commenters around the world wrote their support for Nigeria beneath the video, at a time where Chinese global popularity is at an all-time low.
Since the burning of the factory, bouts of violence against Chinese residents have surfaced on social media.
