Buhari visits China to confer Nigeria's development
- President Muhammadu Buhari will leave Abujay on Sunday to make a four-day state visit to China
- The trip is aimed at strengthening of diplomatic, trade and economic relations between China and Nigeria
Femi Adesina, the special adviser on media and publicity to Muhammadu Buhari, has informed the general public about the details of the president's upcoming visit to China.
Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari, who is the first African Head of State to visit China, was invited by Chinese president, Xi Jinping, to enhance bilateral relations under the new cooperation plan.
The president will be accompanied by some state governors and folllowing ministers: Audu Ogbeh (agriculture); Suleiman Adamu (water resources); Rotimi Amaechi (transport); Mohammed Dan Ali (defence); Babatunde Fashola (power, works and housing); Aisha Abubakar (industry, trade and investment); Mohammed Bello (federal capital territory); Ogbonnaya Onu (science and technology); Geoffrey Onyeama (foreign affairs).
The representatives of the two countries are to discuss practical ways Nigeria's infrastructure development with emphasis on power, roads, railways, aviation, water supply, housing sectors, agriculture and solid minerals development.
Mr Adesina wrote: "President Muhammadu Buhari will leave Abuja tomorrow for a working visit to China aimed at securing greater support from Beijing for the development of Nigeria's infrastructure, especially in the power, roads, railways, aviation, water supply and housing sectors.
President Buhari's talks with President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang and the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National Peoples’ Congress, Zhang Dejiang will also focus on strengthening bilateral cooperation in line with the Federal Government's agenda for the rapid diversification of the Nigerian economy, with emphasis on agriculture and solid minerals development.
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It is expected that in the course of the visit, several new agreements and memorandums of understanding to boost trade and economic relations between Nigeria and China will be concluded and signed.
The agreements include a Framework Agreement between the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment and the National Development and Reform Commission of the Peoples' Republic of China to Boost Industrial Activities and Infrastructural Development in Nigeria.
Others are a Framework Agreement between the Federal Ministry of Communications and the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, and a Memorandum of Understanding between Nigeria and China on Scientific and Technological Cooperation.
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In keeping with his administration's prioritization of economic diversification and industrialisation to boost employment, President Buhari and his delegation will tour the Shanghai Free Trade Zone and the Guangzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone to gain more useful insights and understanding of the policies that underpinned China's astronomical economic growth in recent years.
The President, whose entourage will include some state governors as well as the Ministers of Agriculture, Water Resources, Transport, Defence, Power, Works & Housing, Industry, Trade & Investment, Federal Capital Territory, Science & Technology and Foreign Affairs, will also open a China-Nigeria Business/Investment Forum in Beijing and meet with members of the Nigerian Community in China before returning to Abuja at the weekend."
The state visit is to last from April 11 till 15. Meanwhile, Ayodele Fayose, Ekiti state governor, has once again harshly criticised the federal government's decision to borrow $2 billion from China to finance the N1.84 trillion deficit in the 2016 budget.
Source: Legit.ng
