Experts across various divides have called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to direct the setting up of necessary framework to actualise the gains of the recent outcome of the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).
They spoke on the sideline of an event orgainsed by the China General Chamber of Commerce in Nigeria and the China Cultural Center, to commemorate the country’s 2024 mid-autumn festival in Abuja, Saturday.
At the last summit in China, themed “Joining Hands to Advance Modernization and Build a Community with a Shared Future,” African countries and China rubbed minds, reached agreements and strategised on ways of strengthening economic cooperation and enhance Africa’s sustainable development.
At the end of the parley, President of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, announced $50 billion in financial support for the African continent, in addition to military aid.
Similarly, the Chinese leader also announced a pledge of another $280 million in aid to African countries while proposing partnership actions to jointly advance modernisation with Africa.
These are to be achieved within the framework of a ten-point action plan over the next three years in the areas of modernisation of industrialisation, agriculture, trade, investment, training, and infrastructure among others.
…Experts task FG
In a post-mortem of the summit, a Research Fellow at the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR) Abuja, Dr. Olalekan Babatunde, described the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) between Nigeria and China as a strategic move to strengthen regional security and stability.
He said: “The CSP, announced during the 2024 FOCAC Summit, aims to promote robust development, stability, and security in the region. The partnership is expected to foster cooperation in areas such as trade, investment, infrastructure development, science, technology, and innovation.”
“It is essential that Nigeria and China work closely together to ensure that the partnership yields tangible benefits for both nations and the region as a whole. The development is seen as a significant boost to Nigeria’s efforts to address its security challenges and promote regional stability. The CSP is also expected to enhance economic cooperation, with China pledging to increase investment in Nigeria’s infrastructure development, including transportation networks, energy, and telecommunications,” he added.
Also speaking, Professor Sheriff Ghali Ibrahim of the Department of Political Science and International Relations, University of Abuja, said President Tinubu would have gone with more governors to optimise the gains arising from the summit.
While asserting that the platform provided by FOCAC was greater than that of the UN put together, Ibrahim said “this comprehensive strategic partnership should result in robust development, stability, and security in the West Africa sub-region.”
He said: “It was indeed an opportunity for Nigeria President Tinubu. If you ask me, I would say the president never prepared for what he saw, didn’t expect the enormity of what he saw in China in terms of benefits. If he had, he would have gone with the whole governors to ensure even development. Lagos alone signed about 3 MoUs. The FCT minister also signed on power and water. Poverty and unemployment are intertwined, and where people are gainfully employed, poverty drops.”
On the whole, he agreed that “President Tinubu’s participation at the 2024 FOCAC summit in Beijing showcases the successes of the 2024 FOCAC as Nigeria is a significant player in this engagement. Nigeria will benefit immensely in the 10 Action Plan, dealing with Civilization, healthcare, development cooperation, trade prosperity, agriculture, industrial chain, peoples-to-peoples exchanges and common security among others.”
Also in a presentation, Director, Centre for China Studies, in Abuja, Dr. Charles Onainuju, lamented how Nigeria lost to Niger Republic, an opportunity provided by the Chinese government to get a refinery in place, urging the Tinubu administration to “urgently put in place necessary policy instruments to engage the opportunities offered by FOCAC.
“We must develop a policy response to encourage farmers export their soya beans, sesame seeds and all what have you. China is moving towards knowledge-innovation sharing, and with a 1.4billion market, Nigeria can’t afford to lag behind.”