Chinese Envoy Tasks Nigerian Government To Invest in Food Security

During the China-Nigeria seminar on governance held in Abuja, the Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Cui Jianchun, highlighted the importance of investing in education, food, housing, and security as key measures to tackle poverty.

Jianchun made these recommendations during the launch of the Hausa edition of the book “Up and Out of Poverty,” written in 1988 by the current Chinese President, Xi Jinping.

The book encapsulates President Jinping’s ideas on eradicating poverty, which he successfully implemented within a period of ten years during his reign from 2012 to 2022.

Jianchun said the President has now “eliminated extreme poverty which at that time, 99.8 million people were below the poverty line.”

According to the envoy, with the release of the book, developing nations like Nigeria should consider revising their strategies and taking necessary actions to uplift their citizens above the poverty line.

He noted that “The Chinese definition of extreme poverty eradication revolves around two basic needs and three guarantees. For the basic needs, we have first, food and secondly, clothing. For the three guarantees, we have compulsory education, basic medical care, and safe housing.

“Nigeria needs to fix the educational sector. The country has a lot of dropouts and we all know that without education, a country cannot move forward. Nigeria needs to fix the medical challenges it is facing to eradicate poverty.”

The envoy added “The measure that China took was to boost the economy. The economy is a decisive factor to eliminate poverty. Nigeria needs to rely on its strength, natural resources and create more jobs for its citizens.”

During his speech at the event, George Akume, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, highlighted the significance of the book launch, emphasizing its timeliness.

He expressed concern about the high number of Nigerians living below the poverty line, particularly in the Northern region, where approximately 80 million out of the country’s 200 million population are affected.

Akume, who couldn’t attend the event personally, was represented by Aliyu Shinkafi, the Permanent Secretary of the Special Services Office under the SGF.

Shinkafi further mentioned that the availability of the book in the Hausa language would enable Nigerians to benefit from the growth and development of China.

He said “This launch is timely and shows what both countries share in common. The book is translated into one of the three major languages so that our population can benefit from China. It is not by chance that the book was put together in Hausa because Nigeria has a population of 200 million about 80 million live below the poverty line, especially the North West and North East.”

Also, the Chinese Minister of Culture and Tourism, Hu Helping noted that “The world is encountering a lot of challenges, especially food insecurity and poverty. Today, the launch of this book will help Nigerians learn and understand how China went up and out of poverty. It will also provide a stronger bilateral cooperation between both countries.”

Agro Nigeria / Foluke Ibitomi