President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday night returned to Abuja after attending the Forum on China and Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Beijing.
During the six-day visit to China, Mr Buhari held bilateral talks and witnessed the signing of some agreements between Nigeria and China in the areas of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and the economy.
He also participated in dialogue between Chinese and African leaders and business representatives.
At the FOCAC meeting, Mr Buhari expressed the appreciation of ECOWAS member states for China’s increasing investment in the sub-region with the aim of building a prosperous and shared future.
He noted that China was the largest investor in the sub-region in both private and public sectors, covering areas, such as infrastructure development in energy, agriculture, mining and healthcare.
According to him, China also provides significant assistance in emergency humanitarian aid and response to climate change for Africa.
Mr Buhari at the FOCAC roundtable on Tuesday, attended by African leaders and Chinese President Xi Jinping, said Nigeria’s partnership with China through FOCAC had resulted in the execution of vital infrastructure projects worth over five billion dollars.
Garba Shehu, the senior special assistant to the president on media and publicity, who was part of the president’s entourage to China, reported that Mr Buhari won China’s support for Nigeria’s aspiration to build the 3050 Megawatts Mambilla hydro-power project.
He said that Nigeria and China also signed the agreement of 328 million dollars for the Information and Communication Technology Infrastructure Backbone Phase II (NICTIB II) project.
The concessional loan agreement between Galaxy Backbone Limited and Huawei Technologies Limited (HUAWEI) was signed by Nigeria’s Minister of Finance Kemi Adesoun and Wang Xiaotoa, Director-General, International Development Agency of China. (NAN)
