A group of Nigerian lawyers is suing China for the adverse effects of the coronavirus outbreak on the country and its citizens.
Recent reports said that the lawyers demand $200 billion in 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,” according to a statement by the lead counsel, professor Epiphany Azinge (SAN), whose firm, Azinge and Azinge, is championing the action.
The lawyers established a two-phase action plan, as they will first go to the federal high court of Nigeria and, second, to persuade the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to institute a state action against the People's Republic of China at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at the Hague.
“The legal experts will be claiming damages to the tune of $200 billion and the Chinese government will be served through its Embassy in Nigeria,” Azinge said.
Previously, an Egyptian lawyer has pressed charges against Chinese President Xi Jinping, calling on his country to pay $10 trillion in damages caused by the novel coronavirus in Egypt.
Also, last week, the U.S. state of Missouri filed a lawsuit against the Chinese government over the coronavirus, alleging that the nation's officials are to blame for the global pandemic.
