By Victoria Ojeme
ABUJA—As part of the efforts to reduce the high rate of unemployment in the country, the National Assembly has begun plans that would encourage technology transfer from China to Nigeria.

Chairman, House Committee on Nigeria-China Relations, Mr Yusuf  Buba, who made the disclosure in Abuja at the Spring Festival Temple Fair organised by the Chinese Embassy in conjunction with the China Cultural Centre in Nigeria, said the move would turn the country into an industrial hub.

Buba said the National Assembly was also doing all within its reach to ensure that the interest of Nigerian businessmen in China is protected.

He said: “Nigeria and China have lot of activities together. As lawmakers, we make sure that the interest of our businessmen who go to China to trade is protected and that we try to see how we will encourage the technology transfer from China to Nigeria so that as I have said before, we will also become industrialised as the China people have become. Nigeria and China share so many things in common.

“If you talk about population, China is the most populated country in the world while Nigeria is the most populated country in Africa. And our Independence Day with China is on the same day, October 1. So we also have a lot to benefit from each other in terms of trade relation.

“If you bear me witness, you will see that in every home in Nigeria, you have at least one Chinese product. But we want to change the trend, instead of bringing in these things from China, we want to have a partnership with the Chinese businessmen so that we can produce these things in Nigeria.”

“The lawmaker assured that Nigeria’s support of One-China Policy would not hinder its relationship with the United States, US. Well, Nigeria is in support if One-China Policy, that does not mean that Nigeria will make enmity with any country that is not in support. The fact that a country has its policy does not mean it will differ in other areas with other countries,” he said.

Also speaking, the China Ambassador to Nigeria, Zhou Pingjian, said that the event was organised to promote cultural ties with Nigeria.

Pingjian pointed out that the two countries are also co-operating in other areas such as trade, agricultural, manufacturing, infra structural developments, among others.”We are doing it one by one and we believe this mutual beneficial cooperation will bring more and more benefits to our two people,” the envoy said.