By Lateef Adegbite
With the embarrassment caused the Nigerian Government by Zhngohan Funeng Industrial Investment, a Chinese firm, which had taken advantage of a long- standing dispute with Ogun, home state of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, which had led to the arbitral award of a $70 million by a French Court that had resulted in the company’s recent seizure of the country’s three Presidential Jets undergoing servicing and repairs in France , many had expected President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to shun any state invitation to the Asian country.
Recall that that prior to the Chinese firm seizure of the Nigerian three Presidential Jets in France, Xi Jinping, the Asian country Leader was said to have extended invitation to Tinubu, who was barely one year in office, in late July, 2024, to pay a state visits to China in September, 2024. The Nigerian President was said to have accepted the invitation and hope that’’ it would strengthen Nigeria –China bilateral relations and the proposed currency swap agreement’’.
The Nigerian Leader appears to have taken advantage of the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, FOCAC, holding in Beinjing, the country’s Capital to embark on the five –day state visits. On Sunday, September 1, 2024, the Nigerian President and his entourage touched down at the Beijing International Airport, China, described as the world second largest economy to the waiting hands of Wale Edun , minister of Finance and Coordinating minister of the Economy, Dave Uhahi, Works, Governors Samwo –Olu, Lagos state, Uba Sani Kaduna and other top government officials , who were said to have arrived the Asian country in as an advance team to prepare the ground for the visit.
At present , China is the largest African trading partner , with bilateral trade hitting the US $ .8 billion mark in the first half this 2024, Fiscal year. The country, according to Media reports has sent thousands of workers to Nigeria and other African countries to build its megaprojects while tapping the Continent’s natural resources including coper, gold, lithium and rare earth minerals.
The Nigerian President, who is on a state visits to China, may have killed two birds with one stone as he will join other African Leaders to attend the China –African Summit in Beinjing. The FOCAC, Summit, which in the past had focused on digital and technological Cooperation in a bid to close Africa’s digital divide had yielded notable Financial commitments for projects spanning infrastructure, agriculture and manufacturing. The Asian country’s loans to the African countries including Nigeria, over the years was said to have funded several megaprojects.
There are indications that the Nigerian President, who is in a hurry to revive the nation’s battered economy of several years of mismanagement by past Presidents will take advantage of the state visits to also visit two major Chinese Corporations , China Rail and Construction Company, as the country looks to complete the high – speed rail line linking Ibadan, in south west Nigeria and Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, FCT and Huwei Technologies, which currently have a working agreement with the Nigerian Customs Service, NCS, under the Leadership of Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, MFR.
The NCS, had engaged the services of the Chinese digital firm for the implementation of the $3.2 billion e- Customs Project being financed by the Africa Finance Corporation, AFC, under a 20-year succession window, expected to generate $176 billion for the country when fully implemented. Top officials of the NCS, had volunteered information based on the workings of the technology in other parts of the world, that it would quadruple service current monthly revenue collections.
A Presidency source had disclosd that Tinubu will meet with 10 Chief Executive Officers, CEOs, of 10 major Chinese Companies across information and communications technology, seaport and harbor costructions, oil and gas, aluminum production, dredging, satellite technology development, and financial services, with assets under management totaling the North American country of the United States, US, $3 trillion dollars.
Many believe that the Nigerian President is seeking foreign investments to boost ‘’to boost the country’s economy’’, which is battling double-digital inflation. The rising inflation in the in country may have informed why the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics , NBS, under the close watch of asaemiu Adeyemi Adeniran, who had put it at 33.40 percent and food inflation at over 40 percent fears that that it may still go up.
The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, under the close watch of Olayemi Michael Cardoso, had said that Nigerian households would spend 50 percent of their earnings on food in the next months Notwithsatnding the multiple inflationary rate being battled by the Nigerian government, it is also battling with the problems of foreign currency shortages and crude oil theft. It is no surprising why the President is optimistic that the state visists to china to rub minds with the Chinese top government officials, CEOs of maor Corporations in the country, information and communication’s experts, would go a long way to give a clue on how to solve the problems without much ado.
