Source: China has offered Nigeria a loan worth $6bn to fund infrastructure projects in Africa’s biggest economy.
“It is a credit that is on the table as soon as we identify the projects,” the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, told reporters who travelled with President Muhammadu Buhari to China.
Also, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, said in a statement that the Chinese President, Xi Jinping, offered $15m agricultural assistance to Nigeria for the establishment of 50 demonstration farms across the country.“It won’t need an agreement to be signed; it is just to identify the projects and we will access it,” he said.
The offer was in response to Buhari’s vow to make Nigeria self-sufficient in food production.
The offer, according to Shehu, was made during talks between Buhari’s delegation and high-ranking Chinese government officials led by Jinping.
During the talks, China and Nigeria also agreed to strengthen military and civil service exchanges as part of a larger capacity building engagement.
In line with this, China offered to raise its scholarship awards to Nigerian students from about 100 to 700 annually, while 1,000 other Nigerians would be given vocational and technical training by China annually.
Shehu quoted Jinping as applauding the war against corruption being waged by Buhari and assured him that Nigeria would always have a special place in the affairs of China.
Buhari shortly after the talks directed that technical committees be immediately established to finalise discussions on new joint Nigeria/China rail, power, manufacturing, agricultural and solid mineral projects.
The technical committees, he said, would conclude their assignments before the end of next month.
“China also expressed an interest in setting up major projects in Nigeria such as refineries, power plants, mining companies, and textile manufacturing and food processing industries as soon as the enabling environment is provided by the Federal Government,” the statement added.
Nigeria also agreed a currency swap deal with China as it looks for ways to shore up the ailing naira and fund a record budget deficit, possibly by issuing yuan-denominated bonds in China.
The nation is facing its worst economic crisis in decades as sinking oil prices eat into its foreign reserves and the naira weakens against other currencies.
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