Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari, has displayed his commitment to revamp the country’s lopsided economy with a series of vital trade deals between the country and her host China, during his recent visit there.
He expressed satisfaction with the turnout of his working visit to China, which is expected to bring in needed investments into the Nigerian economy. The agreements were estimated to be in the excess of six billion dollars.
Important sectors of the Nigerian economy that will be impacted by the agreements during the visit includes: power, solid minerals, agriculture, housing and rail transportation.
According the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Garba Shehu:
“In the power sector, North South Power Company Limited and Sinohydro Corporation Limited signed an agreement valued at 478,657,941.28 dollars for the construction of 300 Mega Watts solar power in Shiriro, Niger State.
“In the solid minerals sector, Granite and Marble Nigeria Limited and Shanghai Shibang signed an agreement valued at 55 million dollars for the construction and equipping of granite mining plant in Nigeria.
“A total of one billion dollars is to be invested in the development of a greenfield expressway for Abuja-Ibadan-Lagos under an agreement reached by the Infrastructure Bank and Sinohydro Corporation Limited.
“For the housing sector, both companies also sealed a 250 million dollars deal to develop an ultramodern 27-storey high rise complex and a 2.5 billion dollars agreement for the development of the Lagos Metro Rail Transit Red Line project,” the statement read.
Other landmark agreements announced and signed during the visit include one billion dollars for the establishment of a Hi-tech industrial park in Ogun-Guangdong Free Trade Zone in Igbesa, Ogun State.
The Ogun-Guangdong Free Trade Zone and CNG (Nigeria) Investment Limited also signed an agreement valued at 200 million dollars for the construction of two 500MT/day float gas facilities.
“An agreement valued at 363 million dollars for the establishment of a comprehensive farm and downstream industrial park in Kogi State was also announced at the Nigeria-China business forum.
“Other agreements undergoing negotiations include a 500 million dollars project for the provision of television broadcast equipment and a 25 million dollars facility for production of pre-paid smart meters between Mojec International Limited and Microstar Company Limited,” the statement read.
About 100 Nigerian businesses and 300 Chinese firms participated in the Nigeria-China business forum, which took place a day after President Buhari began his visit to China.
Another spectacular gain from Mr. President’s visit to China is the Signing of Currency Pact with China.
With this agreement, there will be an ease of banking transactions to be done with Yuan or Naira, unlike the traditional way of accepting only the USD. It means, bonds or loans can be accessed across the two currencies of the two countries.
According to Reuters, president Buhari also used the Beijing visit to secure a deal on Yuan transactions between the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd (ICBC), the world’s biggest lender, and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
“It means that the renminbi (yuan) is free to flow among different banks in Nigeria, and the renminbi has been included in the foreign exchange reserves of Nigeria,” Lin Songtian, Director General of the African Affairs Department of China’s foreign ministry, told reporters.
As at 2015, according to the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Xiaojie, Nigerians constitutes the largest population of Africans in China.
He also disclosed that the trade volume between both countries hit 18 billion dollars (about N3.5 trillion) in 2014, representing 30 per cent increase over the figure of the preceding year. Going by the statistics available, the Igbo traders are the 70% of Nigerians in China.
And finally some interesting quote from the late sage:
“Every vestige and every channel of the undue influence of Britain and her allies in and on Nigeria should be totally eradicated. This, in my view, can be done in three significant ways: a) by the widening of the circle of our international friendship, and in particular by the immediate establishment of diplomatic, cultural, trade and other mutually beneficial relations with Soviet Russia, China, and Eastern Germany. b) by the progressive but accelerated termination of our undue economic dependence on British and other Western Agencies and Business concerns…………….September 3rd, 1961”
(Chief Obafemi Awolowo, 1909 – 1987)
