By Innocent Odoh The Nigerian government is planning to embark on technology transfer from the Peoples Republic of China in order to boost industrial capacity and tackle the growing unemployment in the country.
The Chairman House Committee on Nigeria-China Relations Hon Yusuf Buba made this known while fielding questions from reporters during the Spring Festival Temple Fair organized by the Embassy of China in collaboration with the Chinese Cultural Centre in Abuja on Saturday.
Buba said that the National Assembly is also doing all within its reach to ensure that the interest of Nigerian businessmen in China is protected.
“Nigeria and China have lot of activities together. As lawmakers, we make sure that the interest of our businessmen in Nigeria that go to China to trade is protected and that we are trying to see how we will really encourage the technology transfer from China to Nigeria so that as I have said before, we will also become industrialised as the China people have become.
“Nigeria and China share so many things in common. If you talk about population, China is the most populated country in the world while Nigeria is the most populated country in Africa. And our Independence Day with China is on the same day; 1st of October. So we also have a lot to benefit from each other in terms of trade relation.
“If you bear me witness, you will see that in every home in Nigeria, you have at least one Chinese product. But we want to change the trend; instead of bringing in these things from China, we want to have a partnership with the Chinese businessmen so that we can produce these things in Nigeria where we can have made-in-Nigeria with China products. So that will mop up the massive unemployment problem we are facing because where the industries move in, in partnership with Nigeria to produce these things here, we will definitely solve the unemployment problem we are facing,” he said.
The lawmaker assured that Nigeria’s support for One-China Policy would not hinder its relationship with the United States (US).
“Well, Nigeria is in support of One-China Policy that does not mean that Nigeria will make enmity with any country that is not in support. The fact that a country has its policy does not mean it will differ in other areas with other countries,” he said.
Also speaking, the China Ambassador to Nigeria, Zhou Pingjian, said that the occasion was organised to promote cultural ties with Nigeria.
Pingjian pointed out that the two countries are also co-operating in other sectors of the economy like trade, agricultural, manufacturing, infra structural developments, among others.
“We are doing it one by one and we believe this mutual beneficial cooperation will bring more and more benefits to our two people,” the envoy said.
