President Muhammadu Buhari is expected to be in South Africa today, Thursday, December 2 to participate in the Forum on China, Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).
According to a statement by Garba Shehu who is the senior special assistant to the president on media and publicity and made available by Femi Adeshina, the forum would take place in Johannesburg from December 4 to 5.
President Buhari is expected to meet with the Chinese leader Xi Jinping as a follow up from their discussion which took place on the side-lines of the United Nations General Assembly meeting in November in New York. This is expected to strengthen bilateral relationship between Nigeria and China.
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The president would be accompanied by the minister of foreign affairs, Geoffrey Onyema; minister of transportation, Chubuike Amaechi; and the minister of industry, trade and investment, okechukwu enelamah and they will be expected back in the country on Saturday, December 5
Part of the statement read: “President Buhari had indicated to Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader at the bilateral meeting in New York that he wanted China to re-commence stalled rail projects under new terms that would see China providing nearly all the financing required.
Of particular interest is the coastal railway project stretching for 1402 kilometers linking Lagos in the West with Calabar in the East; a project that is expected to be financed with 12 billion U.S Dollars Chinese loan and which will create about 200,000 jobs.
Another rail project that will be up for renegotiation is the $8.3bn Lagos-Kano standard gauge modernization project, of which only a segment, Kaduna-Abuja has reached completion stage.
READ ALSO: Buhari Returns To Nigeria
President Buhari is also expected to discuss ways of removing all obstacles in the way of the 3,050 MW Mambila Power Station, considered a strategic project which was conceived in 1982 but has not taken off.
The Chinese President had informed President Buhari of the willingness of his country to finance the whole project through a special loan agreement.”
Meanwhile, the National Association of Nigerian Student condemned the movement of the president from one country to the other and urged him to stay in Nigeria and perform his duty.
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