Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari came back home end of last week after a five-day visit to China with a cheeky smile on his face and bag of goodies including a $6 billion loan, several infrastructure agreements and a currency swap deal.
Buhari’s trip to the Asian nation had received it fair share of criticism from the opposition, who claimed his numerous foreign trip accompanied by huge delegations were only costing tax payers and yielding nothing in return.
The China trip, the 26th since he took office a year ago, had one of the largest ministerial delegation of his presidency.
But on returning to the West African nation, his basket of goodies from Chins kept many, including his foes, marveling at the magic of the fiery 73-year-old retired army general and former military head of state, Daily Nation reported.
The Asian giant had extended additional investment in Nigeria exceeding $6 billion covering several sectors including power, solid minerals, agriculture, housing and rail transportation.
“It is a credit that is on the table as soon as we identify the projects. It won’t need an agreement to be signed; it is just to identify the projects and we access it,” Daily Nation quoted Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs minister Geoffrey Onyeama saying.
Business relations between Nigeria and China have grown over the last decade, with bilateral trade volumes rising from $2.8 billion in 2005 to $14.9 billion in 2015.
Nigeria accounted for 8.3 per cent of the total trade volume between China and Africa and 42 per cent of the total trade volume between China and the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) countries in 2015.
Two chinese energy companies signed an agreement to construct a 300 megawatts solar power plant in Niger State at a cost of over $478 million, While Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, sealed a $2 billion deal to construct two more cement factories in the country.
Another $1 billion will be invested in the development of a Greenfield expressway for Abuja-Ibadan-Lagos under an agreement reached by the Infrastructure Bank and Sinohydro Corporation Limited, Premium Times reported.
A $2.5 billion agreement for the development of the Lagos Metro Rail Transit Red Line project was also signed.
Other agreements announced and signed during the visit include a $1 billion for the establishment of a Hi-tech industrial park in Ogun-Guangdong Free Trade Zone in Igbesa, Ogun State.
The Ogun-Guangdong Free Trade Zone and CNG (Nigeria) Investment Limited also signed an agreement valued at $200 million for the construction of two 500MT/day float gas facilities.
Onyeama further disclosed that the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd (ICBC), the world’s biggest lender, and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), signed an agreement on Yuan transactions.
“It means that the Yuan (renminbi) is free to flow among different banks in Nigeria and has been included in the foreign exchange reserves of Nigeria.’’
