“Instead of importing goods we should convince the Chinese to come and set up industries so that our people can get employment and improve their skills while the Chinese as the investors will make money,” Emir of Kano said in Beijing, China on Wednesday.
By Kemi Kasumu, General Editor
Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi II, has called for a rethink in the area of economic diplomacy between China and Nigeria and other African countries.
Alhaji Sanusi II was speaking when he paid a courtesy call on the Nigerian Ambassador to China, Amb. Baba Ahmed Njidda, at the Nigerian Embassy in Beijing.
A statemeng from Kano State Ministry of Commerce, copy of which was sent to The DEFENDER, informed that the monarch gave economic advice on what the nature of support sought from China by countries in need of such support should be.
Emir Sanusi said countries looking for China’s economic support should ask for investments not loans as asking for investments, accirding to him, was one of the best ways to get people out of poverty and create wealth.
He said, “Instead of importing goods we should convince the Chinese to come and set up industries so that our people can get employment and improve their skills while the Chinese as the investors will make money.”
He informed the Ambassador that he had met with the world textile giant, Shangtex, in Shanghai and initiated discussion on how they could come and set up an industry in Kano with the support of the State Government.
Sanusi said the state government was also on the same page with the Emirate Council, which he said was the reason senior government officials were part of his entourage.
Responding, Amb. Njidda, thanked the Emir for finding time to visit the Embassy and assured him that he would study his recommendations with a view to putting them to use.
He then recalled that the Emir’s late father who was the first Nigerian Ambassador to China had laid a good foundation for a cordial and friendly relationship between Nigeria and China.
