Editorial

By: Manny Ita

Palpable Expectations of President Buhari’s Return From China

Bilateral relationships between Nigeria and China dates back to February 10, 1971when the two countries signed bilateral relationship which have over four decades spanned tremendously.  In April 2005, China and Nigeria, the most populous developing countries in the world and Africa, declared the establishment of a strategic partnership, which lifted the bilateral ties to new highs and sounded the clarion call to form an all-directional, multi-layered and wide-ranging cooperation. Presently, Chinese investments in Nigeria alone are pegged at over a $100bn dollars and this is expected to grow in the coming years. The areas of cooperation between both countries cover infrastructure, energy, trade and finance, all of which have scored impressive achievements, with bilateral trade volume between both nations standing at $14.94 billion, representing 8.3 per cent of  total trade volume between China and Africa, and 42 per cent of total trade volume between China and ECOWAS countries.

As at today, China is the top lender to Nigeria, where political instability and violence have shrunken Western interests. It may be worthy to note that Nigeria is the first African country to accept Chinese RMB in its foreign reserve.

Needless to belabor the fact that President Buhari, since taking over the leadership of the nation in may 2015, has embarked on numerous foreign trips each with clear mission of not only seeking international collaboration on fighting corruption but also working assiduously on ensuring that stolen funds by corrupt public officials are repatriated to Nigeria. However, there still is need to even explore more areas where this relationship can further benefit both countries which informed the president’s visit at the prompt of the Chinese government.

The first to be embarked upon by an African leader after the 2015 China/Africa summit, the president’s visit to the Asian nation could not have come at a better time as the Buhari’s administration urgently needs to foster economic growth and development.

The call to diversify the economy from an oil-dependent one has always been clarion and the hardship which dwindling oil revenues have inflicted on the nation’s staggering economy is simply an indication that the nation can no longer rely solely on oil as its major source of revenue generation with economic experts persistently calling on the President to revamp the agricultural sector and make it more attractive as it were in the past before the discovery of oil.

Over the years, Nigeria’s infrastructure development has remained poor. From epileptic power supply, to bad road transport network, impeding easy movement of agricultural produce and services from rural to urban centers, absence of efficient and modern railway networks, degrading aviation sector and an unproductive housing sector, so many questions and expectations trailed the president’s visit with millions of jobless Nigerians adding to the strain.

Thankfully, on arrival from China, President Buhari expressed satisfaction with the outcome of his working visit which he said yielded additional investments in Nigeria exceeding $6 billion and confident that the several agreements concluded with the Chinese during the visit will have a huge and positive impact on key sectors of the Nigerian economy including power, solid minerals, agriculture, housing and rail transportation.

According to the President, in the power sector, North South Power Company Limited and Sinohydro Corporation Limited signed an agreement valued at $478,657,941.28 for the construction of 300 Mega Watts solar power in Shiriro, Niger State.

For the solid minerals sector, Granite and Marble Nigeria Limited and Shanghai Shibang signed an agreement valued at $55 million for the construction and equipping of granite mining plant in Nigeria.

A total of $1 billion 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 while in the housing sector, both companies also sealed a $250 million deal to develop an ultra modern 27-storey high rise complex and a $2.5 billion agreement for the development of the Lagos Metro Rail Transit Red Line project.

Other agreements announced and signed during the visit as revealed by Mr. President included a $1 billion for the establishment of a Hi-tech industrial park in Ogun-Guangdong Free Trade Zone in Igbesa, Ogun State, apart from a signed agreement of the Ogun-Guangdong Free Trade Zone and CNG (Nigeria) Investment Limited valued at $200 million for the construction of two 500MT/day float gas facilities.

While an agreement valued at $363 million 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 project for the provision of television broadcast equipment and a $25 million facility for production of pre-paid smart meters between Mojec International Limited and Microstar Company Limited.

We applaud the President for the consistent strides he has made in revamping the economy but point out at this juncture, the need to ensure that after all these efforts, spanners are not thrown into the works as one bane of Nigeria’s economic fortunes has been poor implementation of policies, projects and the prevalence of corruption in national wafting across all dealings.

We want to believe the president is conversant with this ugly trend which he also is fighting assiduously to stamp out from the system and therefore enjoin  relevant stakeholders to give the President full support in making Nigeria a country we all have for long dreamed and wished for.