China offers $6bn loan to Nigeria for infrastructure – Foreign Affairs Minister

 

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, has disclosed that China has offered Nigeria a loan worth $6bn to fund projects.
Speaking with reporters who travelled with President Muhammadu Buhari to China, Onyeama said, “It is a credit that is on the table as soon as we identify the projects, we access the facility,”
“It won’t need an agreement to be signed; it is just to identify the projects and we will access it.”

Similarly, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, in a statement revealed that the Chinese President, Xi Jinping has offered a $15m agricultural grant to Nigeria for the establishment of 50 demonstration farms across the country.
Shehu said the Chineses President made the offer during talks between Buhari’s delegation and high-ranking Chinese government officials.

The Chinese government also pledged to strengthen the military and civil service, Shehu said.
Shehu also stated that the Chinese government has offered to raise its scholarship awards to Nigerian students from about 100 to 700 annually, while 1,000 other Nigerians would be given vocational and technical training annually.

“China also expressed an interest in setting up major projects in Nigeria such as refineries, power plants, mining companies, and textile manufacturing and food processing industries as soon as the enabling environment is provided by the Federal Government,” the statement added.