President Buhari To Leave For South Africa Today

President of Nigeria Buhari will leave for South Africa
Today December 3rd to participate in the
Forum on China/Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).

statement which was issued by the Special Assistant to
the President on Media and Publicity, Garba
Shehu, says that during the forum the Nigerian President will
have a meeting with Chinese president, Xi
Jinping, on how to re-commence stalled rail
projects under new terms that would see China
providing nearly all the financing required.

The statement spoken of reads
“Of particular interest is the coastal railway
project stretching for 1,402 kilometres linking
Lagos in the west with Calabar in the South; a
project that is expected to be financed with
$12 billion Chinese loan and which will create
about 200,000 jobs.
Another rail project that will be up for
renegotiation is the $8.3bn Lagos-Kano
standard gauge modernisation project, of
which only a segment, Kaduna-Abuja, had
reached completion stage.
President Buhari is also expected to discuss
ways of removing all obstacles in the way of
the 3,050 MW Mambila Power Station,
considered a strategic project which was
conceived in 1982 but has not taken off.
The Chinese president had informed President
Buhari of the willingness of his country to
finance the whole project through a special
loan agreement,” the statement said.
Those to accompany him on the trip are
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyema;
Minister of Transportation, Chubuike
Amaechi; and the Minister of Industry, Trade
and Investment, Okechukwu Enelamah. They
are expected back to the country on Saturday
December 5th.