By Felix Khanoba
The House of Representatives has called for more productive bilateral relationship between Nigeria and China to enhance national economic development.
The Chairman, House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Mr Timehin Adelegbe made the call during a visit to the office of Nigeria Entrepreneurs Forum, NEF in Yiwu, Zhejiang Province in China while on an oversight function to some strategic Nigerian offices in China.
Mr Adelegbe who expressed satisfaction over trade and economic ties between Nigeria and China commended the entrepreneurship programmes of NEF which is aimed at improving Foreign Direct Investment, FDI, back home in Nigeria.
The Chairman also lauded the Forum’s initiative of opening an office in China noting that the move would go a long way in strengthening relationship among the two countries.
Reacting to the visit, the President of Nigeria Entrepreneurs Forum, NEF, Dr. Sidney Inegbedion thanked the delegation for visiting NEF office.
Dr. Inegbedion who described the visit to NEF office as significant said NEF is the only private sector organisation representing Nigeria in China.
“The strategy is to use the office to serve as a gateway for the Nigerian private sector entry to Chinese market because China is about one point five billion in population and for us is a market that Nigeria should not take for granted” He said
According to him, attraction of ten percent of Nigerian goods into China market would boost national economic development of Nigeria.
“We should not be waiting for China alone to be bringing their goods to us and investing in Nigeria alone, we can also move our goods to China and presently we’re shipping things like sesame seeds, cocoa, shea butter and other agricultural commodities but more still need to be done ” Dr. Inegbedion stressed
The President of NEF explained that in recent times, Nigeria has advanced in agro allied processing, fashion and design, services in Nigerian creative industry therefore the country must have a mechanism of pushing the nation’s attributed to the Chinese market for economic and financial benefits.
“Today, the global economic is not about socialization but is all about who gets more from who because Nigerian market is a large market that’s why other countries like coming here so we too must begin to find ways of accessing other foreign markets” Dr Inegbedion stated
He said NEF had also established offices in Indonesia, Germany and the United States with the sole aim of assisting Nigeria to gain entry into their markets for improve trade and economic activities thereby enhancing Foreign Direct Investment, FDI.
The President of NEF announced that a lot of Chinese companies had indicated interest to invest in Nigeria through the Forum’s preparatory engagement and the companies would soon be segregated based on their specific areas of investment such as mining, agriculture and other sectors of the nation’s economy and work with respective State Governments to know their areas of needs for effective results.
