The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, will lead a delegation of his party’s officials to China to interact with their Chinese Communist Party counterparts.
This development came after the outgoing Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Gu Xiaojie, extended an invitation to the Oyegun-led National Working Committee (NWC) when he paid a courtesy visit to the APC national secretariat in Abuja, yesterday.
The APC national chairman hoped the trip would enable them to learn how China dealt with the “menace of corruption.”
He said that the relationship between Nigeria and China was improved during the tenure of the outgoing ambassador.
On the recent president Buhari’s visit to China, Oyegun said: “I must say that the result of the visit of our president is something that has given us a lot of joy because substantial agreements were recorded. In the next few months, knowing China as a very serious country, they make commitment and fulfill them, as soon as our budget comes on stream, we will be able to see the practical results on the ground, particularly in the areas of infrastructure and agriculture.”
Earlier, the outgoing ambassador, Xiaojie, said that the Chinese Communist Party expressed its readiness to work with the APC in areas like capacity building.
Xiaojie said the Chinese leaders appreciated the policy initiatives of Nigeria’s government on anti-corruption, economic development, peace and stability.
He said the Chinese government and its people were ready to work “closely” with Nigeria in implementing the initiatives between the two countries.
“We may identify areas like the exchange of views on governance and party to party relations between the APC and the Communist Party of China as well as some other areas of economic aspect like agriculture and energy sectors,” he said.
“These are areas the Chinese government and the Chinese business community will be working on here in Nigeria. I’m very impressed in the achievements we have recorded in the last two years.”
In January this year, the APC signalled its intention to enter into partnership with the Communist Party of China after a meeting between the APC National Secretary, Mai Mala Buni, and a Chinese government delegation, led by the chargé d’affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Nigeria, Qin Jian.
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