Nigeria Secures $1.1Bn Chinese Loan
Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has signed a $ 1.1bn accord with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, in a deal that will see Nigeria benefit from low-interest loans for its much-needed infrastructure.
The agreement between the two governments was signed in Beijing on Wednesday in a ceremony, at the start of Jonathan’s four-day tour of China.
Nigeria’s Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, accompanying the president said the loans being settled now were part of $ 3bn approved by China in lending at an interest rate of less than 3 percent.
In his address President Xi said China and Nigeria had been united by a common task of pursuing national development. Chinese companies are already building roads across Nigeria in contracts worth $1.7bn.
"China and Nigeria share the same goal of achieving prosperity for both countries, and this shared task brings our two countries together," he said.
The Chinese loans to Nigeria will go ahead to fund airport terminals in four cities, roads, a light-rail line in the capital, Abuja, a hydropower plant and oil and gas infrastructure. The said projects are expected to be completed within the next 18-24 months.
China, an emerging global power, has been increasingly in the past courting Africa for its oil and other natural resources.
Jonathan is visiting with an entourage of his cabinet ministers, including those for petroleum resources, trade and transport, as well as several state governors, senior government officials and businessmen.
"China is a very good country, has a very robust economy. And that's why when I was coming, I came with quite a number of cabinet ministers and other very senior government functionaries," Jonathan said.
Xi who became president in March has visited Africa, making visits to the mineral rich nations of South Africa, Republic of Congo and Tanzania.
Details of the cooperation between the two countries are yet to be released but it’s said to be encompassed around economic and technical assistance to the West African state that is home to the continent’s largest oil productions.