By Ikugbadi Oluwasegun
Sen. George Akume, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), has assured the Government of the People’s Republic of China, of the Federal Government’s commitment to sustain bilateral relations to boost development.
This was disclosed when he received the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Cui Jianchun and his delegation in his office.
He said that Nigeria has been enjoying strong bilateral relations with China in areas of infrastructure, trade, and agriculture among others.
He, therefore solicited their support to invest more in the country to enable the present administration to accomplish its Renewed Hope Agenda.
In his words: “We want to thank your country for the massive investment in the areas of infrastructure in this country. Nigeria received a soft loan from your country and carefully invested it both on rail and road transportation. The differences are becoming quite clear. And we expect more investments and I believe that is why you are here with your businessmen as well. Any assistance you are giving us, we will step up because of the desire of the present Government to do a lot. We will be expecting support from you from time to time.”
He appreciated the Chinese Government for granting young Nigerians scholarships to study in their country. He also used the opportunity to appeal for more scholarships to enable more Nigerians to study in China.
The SGF also assured that the cultural cooperation between Nigeria and the People’s Republic of China through cultural exchange would also be sustained adding that this would help in cementing the relationship between both countries.
The Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria Cui Jianchun while presenting three (3) documents to the SGF, assured Nigeria of the commitment of the Government of the People’s Republic of China to support the administration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu with the workable development strategies that would turn around the nation’s fortune.
According to him, the documents contain a developmental strategy which serves as a blueprint for the development of the country.
He emphasised that the strategies would cover the following areas: Infrastructure, ICT, industrialisation, investment, security, technology and agriculture, among others while expressing his readiness and commitment to work with the present administration to further deepen the bilateral relations between the two nations.