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2021 FORUM ON CHINA AFRICA COOPERATION (FOCAC): BUILDING THE PHILOSOPHY OF A SHARED FUTURE FOR HUMANITY
2021 FORUM ON CHINA AFRICA COOPERATION (FOCAC): BUILDING THE PHILOSOPHY OF A SHARED FUTURE FOR HUMANITY
By Oboshi Agyeno (PhD)
Institute for peace and Conflict Resolution, Abuja
In a few days to come, particularly on the 29th and 30th November 2021, Senegal will be in the league of other African countries like Ethiopia and South Africa to host the all-important Forum on China Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). The FOCAC is a high level tri-annual indaba of China and African countries with diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China (PRC). All the countries in Africa except for Eswatini that has no diplomatic relations with the PRC, gather every three years to participate in discussions on how to design, consolidate and inject new energy on the way forward for a collective development of China and Africa. Since its conception and inception in 2000 and 2003 and the official launch of FOCAC in the year 2006, the Forum is traditionally hosted either in China or any African country interchangeably. This year, Senegal will host the 8th edition of FOCAC with the theme to ‘Deepen China Africa Partnership and Promote Sustainable Development to Build a China Africa Community with a Shared Future in the New Era’.
The FOCAC was primarily a strategy put forward by China to engage with Africa. This relationship has since grown in leaps and bounds. In 2006, China’s financial commitment to Africa was $5 billion and by 2015 and 2018, such commitment rose to $60 billion. In between this development cooperation, China Africa partnership has progressed from resource trade to infrastructure development of monumental proportion, and shifted into a more focused political and strategic cooperation. In recent times, analysts, think tanks and scholars from Africa have continued to promote and influence the government of Africa to show more innovation, commitment and interest in China Africa cooperation due to the benefit that has come to be evident in such relationships.
The FOCAC has enjoyed tremendous good will and partnership in various facets of investment, trade, health, infrastructure, food security, climate change and other areas of human development. This edition will follow the same pattern with previous FOCAC, but will be unique in many aspects. The 2021 FOCAC is the first summit since the Covid-19 pandemic crippled economic activities and businesses on a global scale, destroying livelihoods and threatening multilateralism as we know it. It is also the first FOCAC that just proceeded the 100 years anniversary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and 50 years of Diplomatic Relations between China and Africa, reviewing the joint China Africa response to Covid19, and for the first time expected to reel out a ‘China Africa comprehensive strategic and cooperative partnership’ specifically for the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in Africa.
There is no doubt that the history of the FOCAC and its derivatives has been a blessing for both China and Africa. This is especially true in the areas of infrastructure development, business opportunities, national and regional security cooperation, cultural diplomacy and people to people exchanges. Indeed, China Africa cooperation has transformed the physical infrastructural environment of both China and Africa, and has proven based on the many hardware projects across Africa that this partnership is unprecedented. It is however pertinent for this year’s FOCAC in Senegal to ensure what Hannah Ryder* refers to as ‘a more organized and collective approach to engagement on the part of African leaders at this year’s FOCAC’. There is a need for African and Chinese leadership, think tanks and scholars to inject some novelty in building a philosophical, cultural and ideological component of China Africa cooperation. In order to improve the quality and efficiency of the FOCAC in general, the 8th edition of the Forum must endeavour to create a hybrid dimension to China Africa cooperation that can activate an innovative path to sustainable development based on a software approach to cooperation and development.
Senegal is one of the ideological, theoretical and cultural hubs of Africa. To project a philosophical angle to the aspirations for building livelihoods and shared humanity that China Africa relations have come to represent, shall be remarkable in this FOCAC. China Africa cooperation has spanned politics, economy, health, technology, etc. The 2021 FOCAC provides the prospect to pay closer attention on building the mind-set, attitude, philosophy and ideological direction for China and Africa towards a better future of communities, opportunities and humanity. The FOCAC should be a platform to build the significance of character traits like diligence, hard work, respect for culture and tradition, patriotism, knowledge, communal sense of purpose, prudence, the synergy between man and nature and cooperation as enablers for development. If embedded in African culture and traditions are qualities that can point the people towards sustainable development using their traditional alternatives, then FOCAC should concentrate on building those qualities. There are different paths to development than a single prescription and the Chinese experience has proven that.
As the saying goes, Africa is the next frontier of development and this aspiration is very likely to be achieved through China Africa cooperation. It is expected that the 2021 FOCAC will address Africa’s place within the BRI, which is potentially the most audacious economic blueprint of global connectivity in trade, investment and pragmatic access to financing for development. One of the ways Africa could benefit from this initiative is to imbibe the values and inculcate the principles of putting the people at the centre of development, promoting togetherness and projecting our unique socialist nature embedded in African and Asian oriental civilization. China and Africa have so much in common and the sooner a deliberate effort is applied to zoom our shared values into the international frontline, the better for humanity. This can be done by injecting our unique value in the domestic and foreign policy of both China and Africa.
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This year’s FOCAC provides the platform for Africa and China to reiterate their belief in a multilateral system which President Xi Jinping of China says ‘falls upon us to follow the trend of history, and choose cooperation over confrontation, openness over seclusion, and mutual benefit over zero sum games*. While contemporary issues like the green economy and climate change, technology transfer, peace and security and post Covid-19 recovery will dominate discussions at this year’s FOCAC, there is also the need to present the philosophical energy that can consolidate on the successes recorded in China Africa cooperation over the years. This could involve understanding and deploying those software features that have enabled China’s peaceful rise, inclusive growth and development in politics, economy and technology. Understanding the principles of Chinese development could be used to unlock the ingenuity of Africans from within, prioritize citizen’s interest in collective development and position Africa’s quest to inclusive and sustainable development as a process rather than a narrative or a big bang theory.
Philosophical vocabulary and direction is important to China Africa cooperation because it will give substance to the framework, content and nature of the overall partnership between both climes. It is therefore instructive that on the side-lines of this year’s FOCAC summit and subsequent meetings in the future, there should be podiums that promote cultural education of Africa and Asian oriental civilization in leadership, governance, relationships, values and development. The number of Chinese cultural institutes in Africa is growing and Africa should take advantage of such presence to collaborate in the areas of language and other exchanges that could promote intellectual understanding of China Africa cooperation, upgrade China Africa oriental civilization, engender new models and paths to development, and ensure a holistic development that is en-sync with the culture, tradition, emotion, beliefs and orientation of the people.
Long live China Africa cooperation.
2021 FORUM ON CHINA AFRICA COOPERATION (FOCAC): BUILDING THE PHILOSOPHY OF A SHARED FUTURE FOR HUMANITY
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19 kidnapped victims regain freedom in Katsina under peace deal
19 kidnapped victims regain freedom in Katsina under peace deal
By: Zagazola Makama
Nineteen persons abducted by bandits in Katsina State have regained their freedom following the ongoing peace accord under the Operation Safe Corridor Initiative.
The victims, comprising men and women from Sabuwa and Funtua Local Government Areas, were released on Thursday morning at Innono Jigo Village in Sabuwa LGA as part of reconciliation efforts with repentant bandits.
They include Safaratu Basiru, 27, Jamila Auwalu, 22, and 17 others who had been held in captivity for several weeks.
Local officials and community leaders received the freed victims and conveyed them to Haske Private Health Centre, Sabuwa, for medical examination before reuniting them with their families.
Authorities in the area said the situation was being closely monitored as part of sustained efforts to consolidate peace and stability in the state.
19 kidnapped victims regain freedom in Katsina under peace deal
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Gov. Uba Sani Says No Citizens Should be Pushed into Poverty Seeking Essential Medical Care
Gov. Uba Sani Says No Citizens Should be Pushed into Poverty Seeking Essential Medical Care
…Pate Calls for National Consensus on Prioritizing Health Care
By: Michael Mike
Kaduna State Governor, Uba Sani has advocated for access to affordable medical care for all Nigerians, insisting that no citizens should be pushed into poverty for seeking essential medical care.
The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Ali Pate also called for national consensus on prioritizing healthcare system in the country.
Speaking at a High-Level Health Media Dialogue with Media Executives in Nigeria with theme: “Escalating Executive and Media Action for Health Accountability and Financing,” on Thursday in Abuja, Kaduna State governor said: “We believe no Nigerian family should be pushed into poverty by seeking essential medical care. Here, equity is not rhetoric for us. It is a principle of governance and justice…”

Sani, while noting that health facilities have been elevated in all parts of Kaduna state, said these landmark facilities significantly reduces the need for medical tourism, lessening the financial and emotional burdens in families.
He noted that emergency care is given priority, said: “We have launched the Kaduna State Emergency Medical Services ambulance system,” which has ensured that countless lives ensuring that urgent intervention reach patient within critical calling hour.
He added that: “Our consensus, as of today in Kaduna, the government has made it free for every emergency case in the first 24 or 48 hours without paying a penny, every patient will be treated free the first 48 hours in Kaduna,”
On his part, Pate said the issue of health affordability is universal and Nigerians need to know that the federal government is working on this.
He said: “There is real pain of affordability. Half of the world’s population doesn’t have access to basic healthcare services, not only in Nigeria, but we tend to self flagellate and not build a consensus to fix it, because it takes national consensus. It’s not a technical issue.
“Fixing health is not just a technical issue because we have had technical expertise for a very long time. It’s not also purely technocratic in terms of just having the right actors that know how to manage doing fundamentally, it’s a political choice that is reflective of political consensus within a country. It is when a country does not build a consensus on the prioritization of health or of education that it doesn’t allocate the resources or use the resources in that right way. And that goes beyond government.”
He noted that with the new tax reform has offered an opportunity for health to be adequately funded in the country.
Also speaking, the Country Director, Gates Foundation Nigeria Uche Amaonwu, said the health of our mothers, children and families, and by extension Nigeria’s human capital depends on what we do next for primary health care.
He assured that the Gates Foundation remains deeply committed to working alongside government and partners to ensure that every Nigerian family can rely on a strong, well financed primary healthcare system.
Earlier in her welcome speech, the Executive Director. International Society of Media in Public Health, Mrs. Moji Makanjuola reiterated the importance of budgeting adequately to health sector
She said “while we acknowledge the remarkable progress made, we must also confront — with courage and compassion — the realities reflected in our health indices.”
She said according to the 2023 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS), Nigeria still records one of the highest maternal mortality ratios in the world at 512 deaths per 100,000 live births, and an under-five mortality rate of 102 deaths per 1,000 live births. These figures translate to approximately 82,000 Nigerian women dying annually due to pregnancy-related causes, and one in every ten Nigerian children dying before the age of five.
“These statistics are not meant to indict but to inspire — to spotlight the urgency for deeper reforms, more coordinated investments, and sustained accountability. They also highlight why our collective focus on strengthening PHC systems remains both timely and essential.
“Primary Health Care Centres (PHCs) represent the bedrock of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) — the first and most critical point of contact for millions of Nigerians, especially those in rural and underserved communities. Yet, data from the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) reveals that only 20% of the over 30,000 PHCs nationwide are fully functional.
“When PHCs work — maternal and child mortality declines, immunization coverage improves, productivity rises, and the cycle of poverty linked to ill health is broken. Our task, therefore, is not merely to acknowledge these challenges but to transform them into opportunities for lasting change.”
Gov. Uba Sani Says No Citizens Should be Pushed into Poverty Seeking Essential Medical Care
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Four killed, others displaced as communal clash erupts in Niger community
Four killed, others displaced as communal clash erupts in Niger community
By: Zagazola Makama
Four persons have been confirmed dead following a violent communal clash between Nupe and Fulani residents in Ezhigi village, Edati Local Government Area of Niger State.
Zagazola Makama report that the conflict began on Oct. 21, 2025, when a yet-to-be-identified Nupe man from Ezhigi had an altercation with one Jibril Adamu, a Fulani herder, for reasons yet to be ascertained.
During the dispute, Jibril allegedly attacked the Nupe man with a machete, inflicting deep injuries. The victim was rushed to the General Hospital, Kutigi, where he later died on Oct. 22 while receiving treatment.
The death of the victim reportedly triggered a reprisal attack by Nupe youths, who stormed the Fulani camp in the same village, killed four Fulani residents, and set their settlement ablaze.
Police personnel from Enagi Division swiftly mobilised to the scene and restored normalcy.
The command confirmed that one suspect, Jibril Adamu, had been arrested, while investigation was ongoing to track other perpetrators and prevent further escalation.
Four killed, others displaced as communal clash erupts in Niger community
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