Posted by Samuel on Thu 24th Jul, 2025 - tori.ng
The distraught workers, who said they were taken to the country by the Chinese firm Rado Central Coal Mining Company, revealed that they had not received any salary in over six months despite being in the country for 10 months.
No fewer than six Nigerian nationals have spoken out in a viral video, alleging that a Chinese mining company abandoned them in a remote area of the Central African Republic after subjecting them to months of unpaid labor.
The distraught workers, who said they were taken to the country by the Chinese firm Rado Central Coal Mining Company, revealed that they had not received any salary in over six months despite being in the country for 10 months.
Speaking in the video, one of the workers said, “We came here through a mining company that brought us from Nigeria to come and work here. We have been here for 10 months, but we need the assistance of Nigerians.
“We need the assistance of Nigerians to come and help us because the Chinese company that brought us here has abandoned us.
“Now, we have worked here for more than six months and we were not paid anything. We arrived here in September last year. For four months, they delayed us at the capital city.”
According to them, the situation worsened after they were reportedly arrested by the Central African government and detained for a period. After their release, they said the company transported them deep into the bush, away from civilisation.
“You can see there is no house anywhere here. Now, we have been abandoned. The person in charge, the general manager, the Nigerian general manager of the company; his name is Abdulmaruf Ademola Aregbe,” another voice in the video stated.
“He has gone back to Nigeria and when we called him, he said he too, he is not concerned about our well-being anymore. He abandoned us here. Now, his partner, his name is Amos. He is a Central African citizen. He seized our passports.
“Without our passports, we cannot pass through the road because the law is very, very strict here. The distance between this place and Bangui is 850 kilometres,” he added.
The workers appealed to fellow Nigerians and the government to intervene and ensure their safe return, adding that their exact location is Senye, under the Bambari region in the Central African Republic.
They identified the Chinese owners of the company as Mr. Yang and Mr. Wu, both reportedly still in the country. According to them, the company’s Nigerian operations are based in Nigeria under the name Rado Central Coal Mining Company.
The video has sparked outrage on social media, with many Nigerians calling for immediate action from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Nigerian Embassy in the Central African Republic to rescue the stranded workers.