The Consul-General of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in Guangzhou, China, Wale Oloko, on Monday said, there are currently about 600 Nigerians in various Prisons in Guangdong Province.
Oloko told journalists in Lagos, that Nigerians in Chinese prisons were arrested for overstaying their visas, drug trafficking and other offences.
He said, “There is no doubt that there are currently a number of Nigerians in various Chinese prisons, at least those under our consular jurisdiction in Guangzhou. Some of them are being prepared for deportation to Nigeria.”
The consul-general, therefore, urged Nigerians desirous of visiting any part of China to always obey the Chinese immigration and general laws when in the province or other provinces in China.
“Any Nigerian wanting to visit any part of China must first know something about the country’s immigration requirements and should be ready to obey laws in such places when they eventually arrive there.
“It is not advisable for any Nigerian to overstay his or her visa in any part of China or engage in any form of criminal act,’’ Oloko said.
Guangdong is a province in South China, located on the South China Sea coast.
The province surpassed Henan and Sichuan to become the most populous province in China in January 2005, registering 79.1 million permanent residents and 31 million migrants.
The capital and largest city is Guangzhou and it has a GDP (2016) of $1.2 trillion.