From Vincent Ikuomola, Abuja
Chinese imports from Nigeria last year increased by more than 70%, the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Zhou Pinjiang, has said. Pinjiang said the increase was as a result of productive diplomatic relations between both countries.
It was also revealed that about 7000 Nigerians are schooling in China on scholarship while thousands more are being sponsored by their parents. The envoy made this known while fielding questions from reporters during events to mark the Chinese New Year also known as Spring Festival, held in Abuja on Saturday. He was hopeful of better relation between both countries.
He said, “China-Nigeria relations have been very productive and we face new opportunities to grow the relations. There is the Forum of China Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) framework. China and Nigeria are cooperation is highly complementary and working together we take advantage of each other’s strengths and explore cooperation potentials across board, culture, agriculture and industrialization. Chinese imports from Nigeria last year increased by more than 70%. We wish to buy more from Nigeria. With time the manufacturing base in Nigeria will get stronger and the trade balance between China and Nigeria will become better to address the concern of Nigerians.”
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Also speaking to reporters, the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on China-Nigeria Relations Buba Yusuf Yakubu said the relationship between Nigeria and China is growing stronger by the day in many sectors. “The relationship has grown tremendously in the economic sector because in the last few years we have seen that a lot of industries are cropping up in Nigeria most of them own by the Chinese in partnership with some Nigerians,” he said. He added that the Chinese Free trade zone in Ogun state has a floating glass industry that has the capacity to give Nigeria all the glass that it needs and also serve West Africa. He noted that the Free trade zone has about 60 industries and is employing about 10, 000 Nigerians.
“So you can see it a great achievement and most of these industries are owned by the Chinese in partnership with Nigerians. So this is bridging the trade gap because instead of importing all the goods we are now bringing in the industries into all over Nigeria. So our dream of becoming an industrialized nation is becoming a reality and China being the catalyst to seeing that this industrialization comes to reality,” he said.
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