Connect with us

Columns

Share the Chinese Harmony and Perform Africa-China Symphony

Published

on

Share the Chinese Harmony and Perform Africa-China Symphony

Share the Chinese Harmony and Perform Africa-China Symphony

By:  CUI Jianchun, Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria

The world is undergoing major changes unseen in a century, with ups and downs of COVID-19 throughout the world. The spillover effects of the Ukraine issue have impacted the global food, energy and financial landscape, and the cause of global development is facing headwinds. Against such backdrop, African countries have voiced urgent aspirations for development, and called for international equity and justice.  

China fully share the sentiment of African countries. Over the past decades, China and Africa have maintained long-term friendship, which has stood the test of changing international circumstances. The all-round cooperation between the two sides brought about remarkable outcomes in political, economic, social and security fields, which greatly contributed to Africa’s social and economic development. 

At present, China and Africa are stepping up efforts to implement the outcomes of the Eighth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation(FOCAC) and accelerate the building of a China-Africa community with a shared future. China is ready to join Africa to promote the realization of the UN 2030 SDGs and the AU Agenda 2063, firmly safeguard the common interests of developing countries, and promote the building of a more just and rational international political and economic order. 

First, we will uphold the spirit of China-Africa friendship and cooperation, and build an even stronger China-Africa community with a shared future. In November 2021 , Chinese President Xi Jinping made an important statement at the Eighth Ministerial Conference of the FOCAC and creatively put forward the spirit of China-Africa friendship and cooperation, featuring sincere friendship and equality, win-win for mutual benefit and common development, fairness and justice, and progress with the times and openness and inclusiveness. This spirit truly captures the relations of China and Africa working together in good and hard times over the past decades, and provides a source of strength for the continuous growth of China-Africa ties. 

At this Conference, President Xi also proposed “Nine Programs” of China-Africa cooperation in terms of medical and health, poverty reduction and agricultural development, trade promotion, investment promotion, digital innovation, green development, capacity building, cultural and people-to-people exchange, and peace and security. The Nine Programs have drawn up an ambitious blueprint for China-Africa cooperation in the coming years and have been highly praised by African countries. 

Under this framework, China will implement 80 key aid projects, establish a “green channel” for African agricultural products to China, and strive to import $300 billion worth of products from Africa in the next three years. China will support the building of the African continental Free Trade Area and the building of the Great Green Wall of Africa. These concrete measures meet the most pressing development needs of African countries, align with China’s new development pattern and conform to the general trend of international development cooperation. The Nine Programs are manifestos of China’s undiminished support to Africa’s development and will certainly lend new impetus to Africa’s post-pandemic economic recovery.

Second, we will jointly promote common development and safeguard global security and stability. The simmering hot spot issues in some regions have produced a series of negative spillover effects. The world is faced with multiple and cross-cutting challenges, and the economic recovery and social stability of developing countries are under impact. Developing countries should not be the victims of international crises, still less the victims of conflicts and turbulence. Meanwhile, international development cooperation is losing steam and the achievement of the 2030 Agenda of SDGs is at risk. 

Facts have proven time and again that development holds the key to solving all kinds of governance challenges and improving people’s well-being. Countries should put development at the center of the international agenda, improve the global governance system, strengthen global development cooperation and achieve common development for all. 

In a view to address pressing global deficit and imbalance of development, last September President Xi Jinping proposed the Global Development Initiative(GDI) at the UN General Assembly. The purpose is to galvanize worldwide attention to development, strengthen global development partnership, promote international development cooperation, and catalyze global actions towards realization of 2030 Agenda.  

Later on, earlier this year at the opening ceremony of the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2022, President Xi Jinping proposed for the first time the Global Security Initiative(GSI). This major Initiative aims to meet the pressing need of the international community to maintain world peace and prevent conflicts and wars, to meet the common aspirations of countries to uphold multilateralism and international solidarity, and to meet the shared desire of all peoples to build a better world beyond the pandemic. 

These above two important initiatives are embedded in the spirit of true multilateralism, uphold the spirit of cooperation and partnership featuring openness, and welcomes the participation of all countries. The two initiatives also widely reflected the common aspirations of African counties, voiced their demands and thus enjoyed broad support from this continent. The two sides should uphold the spirit of China-Africa friendship, set the Global Development Initiative and Global Security Initiative into actions, and march toward the aspiration of promoting common and inclusive development, and safeguarding global security.

Third, we will work together to safeguard world fairness and justice and build a fair and just international order. As a firm builder of world peace, defender of the international order and mediator of hot spot issues, China always holds high the banner of peace, development, cooperation and mutual benefit. China is committed to upholding the international system with the United Nations at its core, the international order based on international law and the basic norms governing international relations based on the purposes and principles of the UN Charter. 

Also Read: 2023: When BIU turns to Tinubu, Kashim Shettima and the SWAGA dance in Lagos

African countries unanimously object hegemonism and power politics, interference in the internal affairs of other countries and racial discrimination, call for increased representation of developing countries in global governance, and guarantees of equal rights and equality of opportunity. 

For a long time, China and African countries have shared weal and woe, fighting together against colonization, apartheid and racism. We have understood and supported each other on issues concerning our core interests and major concerns, always standing at the forefront of international justice. 

However, there is a long way for us to make this world a fair, equal, inclusive and just place. Developing countries are kept on being victimized by hegemony, supremacy, blockade. China will always support developing countries, in particular the African countries in playing a bigger and more active role in international affairs, and is willing to work with African brothers to uphold and exercise true multilateralism, strengthen communication and coordination on major international and regional affairs, and make the international governance system more just and equitable.

Nigeria is Africa’s largest economy and most populous country with significant international and regional influence. China is the largest developing country. The friendship between our two countries could date back to decades ago, and we have become reliable partners worthy of mutual dependence. It is in the common interests of the two countries and the two peoples to strengthen practical cooperation in various fields.  

Currently the two countries are strengthening an intergovernmental committee led by the foreign ministers of the two countries. This committee will coordinate to promote mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries in various fields: to promote China’s new development pattern and Nigeria’s new national development plan; to jointly build the Belt and Road cooperation; to vigorously promote the construction of key projects to help the development of Nigeria’s industrialization; to continue to expand the space for cooperation to create new highlights of the digital economy and green economy; to carry out in-depth military security cooperation to improve Nigeria’s ability to maintain national security; to collaborate on regional affairs, exercise the concept of multilateralism, and safeguard the common interests of developing countries. Under the stewardship of the committee, the potential of all-round cooperation between our two countries will be greatly unleashed.   

China and Nigeria are two great countries in the world. I do believe that both countries share similar values and moralities, worship friendliness and kindness, work towards better lives of their own peoples and the peoples of the world at large. As the 14th Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, I was passionate to push forward the strategic partnership between our two countries. After my arrival, I have put forward 5GIST Nigeria-China GDP (Growth, Development and Progress) Strategy, which was warmly welcomed by Nigerian friends at various levels. I will spare no efforts to promote the two countries and peoples to Share Chinese Harmony and Perform Nigeria-China Symphony. With Nigeria-China’s joint efforts, I believe that this spirit will prevail in this continent, and in the end China and Africa will together Share Chinese Harmony and Perform Africa-China Symphony, working towards a shared future for all.

Share the Chinese Harmony and Perform Africa-China Symphony

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Columns

In Marriage Nest, Spouses Are Dying, Ignoring Red Flags, and The Panacea (1)

Published

on

In Marriage Nest, Spouses Are Dying, Ignoring Red Flags, and The Panacea (1)

By: Balami Lazarus

In the quite beautiful town of Zhimbutu, where men held sway, lording over their wives, some with brutality, few with love,

care and romance others in different ways. While some women are also lords over their husbands with impunity. Fear of getting married gripped young ladies seeing the ways their mothers were being treated and relegated to the background in the affairs of their homes as married women.

The home of Mr. and Mrs. Kwanchinkwalo Xhosa is full of regrets, anger, and bitterness, where Mrs. Xhosa has been treated as an object in the marriage partnership. The red spots were obviously fermented with bubbles ready for brewing.

Similarly, some good number of marriage homes are full of regrets where love, peace, and understanding

and harmony are strangers rejected and kept in a labyrinth of doom where one of the parties is placed in a perpetual tan of unhappiness surrounded by fear in the thickness of smoke, a forced resident.

Long before, now as a young man, a legitimate product of marriage. I took marriage as a mere secular social contract of partnership bounded in love and understanding where two have agreed to live together as husband and wife in matrimony.

However, I have never taken marriage to be a do-or-die affair, which has been the stock of some persons, even when and if the two—husband and wife—can no longer live together, having exhausted reasonable avenues to no avail. Here I am.

for outright divorce as a panacea for the final dissolution of the marriage.

To this day, I have been asking myself, why did I even get married in the first place? For sex, procreation, companionship, norms, tradition, or obligation? While marriage to a larger extent has deprived me and many others of some air of freedom and liberties to do or not to do at any space of time, I suppose. Moreover, the enterprise called marriage has taken away the ‘who’ in many men and

women and made them something else. It has further forcefully taken the lives of many spouses who ignored the red flags and fear of divorce. And besides, many have taken upon themselves to live or die in an unhappy/venomous venture of marriage that is infested with ‘dysentery’ and ‘cholera,’ where death is lurking because husbands or wives lack the guts, will , ability, and/or capacity to invoke the dead-end solution.

Let me now punctuate the work with some questions: Were you forced into it? Was it under duress? Was it at gunpoint? I believed the answers were all no. What will then prevent an individual from liquidating his unprofitable marital interest in such an intense business called marriage to be free from wahala that may likely result in crime?

In such a situation, I advocate for divorce as the only and final panacea, which has a comfortable place as a clause in my dictionary of marriage. Divorce is rarely used in some quarters, no matter what. While my wife and I have sincerely agreed in the course of our marriage journey that at any point in time, with or without any reason/cause, either party can quietly and peacefully walk out of the marriage to avoid who knows what?

In the history of failed marriages and crime findings, it has been shown that one of the parties is forcing his/herself on the other spouse because one of them has a profound and compounded emotional or spiritual attachment to the marriage. The case of the late Mrs. Osinachi Nwachukwu (2023), the gospel singer, was a classical example. Patience and excessive spiritual attachment led to her being killed by her husband, one Mr. Nwachukwu. The same is also applicable to men who fall victim in the hands of their wives. This situation has created two prime suspected killers living in a marriage cocoon.

Balami, a publisher/columnist. 08036779290

In Marriage Nest, Spouses Are Dying, Ignoring Red Flags, and The Panacea (1)

Continue Reading

Columns

Birthday Celebrations: Ageless Plus One They Puke

Published

on

Birthday Celebrations: Ageless Plus One They Puke

By: Balami Lazarus

As I write this piece, I was caught between the beautiful literary works of two great African poets and not knowing who to quote because they say the same thing poetically in different ways, going by their subject matter. As the writing progresses, I will definitely make reference to one of them to qualify this discourse.

The “Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead” I read recently has explicitly expressed our individual differences exhibited by man in lifestyles and even in death. The book written in spell said that even in death, individuals are different.

I hereby believe that some persons are battling with parents, relatives, friends, and acquaintances who are trying to impose their ways of life and styles on them, refusing to accept the fact that likes and dislikes make us different as humans. When I got to understand myself as an individual adult who has a mind of his own, making me positively different, that was the beginning of my journey to self-freedom as an individual.

As humans, we are physically the same, but we easily forget that you and I are entirely different. I have always tried to single myself out from the crowd to make a difference in terms of things that are personal and not against the law. With this in mind, I have developed a very strong, self-independent mindset, which has made me principled, and I don’t play to the gallery. That has also made me stand out like an inselberg mountain. However, for the purpose of family, collective responsibilities, and public interest, I must stoop with love and understanding for the sake of progress, growth, and development.

Therefore, my dislike for birthday celebrations makes me different from you or anyone out there. Moreover, it is of no value to me as I live. With this, I recalled when a young school pupil was asked at a children’s program, Would you like to be like Aliko Dangote ?

He answered and said, “No, we are different.” For me, that was a brilliant answer, for it entails so many things.

I have long disciplined and have control of my mind, body, and soul to outgrow so many things that are not necessary or important for me to either have , do, or use. This has helped me to brush aside and ignore so many things. Perhaps for the purpose of association or friendship, I might like or admire some things about the individual concerned, but the fact remains I will not and shall never be you nor do as you do because even in death—funeral/burial—we are different.

Most birthdays are celebrated empty of how old the celebrants are because they are ageless. What is the rationale behind this?. Does it make sense? . My father, of blessed memory, was good at record keeping. He taught us, as his children, to be mindful of important dates and years for future use and documentation. He further reminded us that “your birthday has been properly celebrated during your naming ceremony. Why another birthday celebratio”n?

I have seen where some people took birthday celebrations as if they were a personal achievement, and some even took offense when you did not identify with them by either phone calls , text messages, or other social media handles. Shamelessly, few among these individuals confront you with the anger of a black mamba showing all over them as if it were an obligation to celebrate with them on this self-meaningless and childish glee, which I see as generational encroachment because as a mature adult, you no longer need such celebration. This is my opinion.

I will not conclude this article without telling readers that I do attend ceremonies like Thanksgiving, graduations, award presentations, marriages, namings, and funerals, among other important events, but not birthday celebrations; that is always Plus (+) One, year in and year out. What is a burlesque? And this brings me to where I will have to quote one of the two African poets, Wole Soyinka and John Pepper Clark (Abikus). Suffice to say, Plus (+) One is like the Abiku in Wole Soyinka’s poem “I am Abiku calling for the first… repeated time , ageless though our puke.” This is the way of many birthday celebrants .

Finally, I smell the spoor of some readers saying in their minds that this writer is out of date , a bushman, socially bankrupt, and does not belong. I guess I am right . Well, in recollection, calmness, and stillness, I stand to say we are different.

Balami, a publisher/columnist 08036779290.

Birthday Celebrations: Ageless Plus One They Puke

Continue Reading

Columns

RE: SDP ‘now Nigeria’s new bride’? 

Published

on

RE: SDP ‘now Nigeria’s new bride’? 

RE: SDP ‘now Nigeria’s new bride’? 

By: Dr. James Bwala

This caption drew my attention as I woke up this morning. “SDP is now Nigeria’s ‘new bride’; we’re ready to unseat Tinubu in 2027.” Mr. Dogara, an official, described the SDP as “the new bride of Nigeria,” claiming the party’s membership is growing rapidly across the country. “I was supposed to be surprised, but I laughed so hilariously knowing the political landscape we are operating in and how some people can turn in their dreams and hold on to a belief that they are still kings as they were in that dreamland. 

The metaphor of a “new bride” in political discourse often symbolizes freshness, hope, and transformative potential within a political landscape. In Nigeria, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) emerged as one such entity purported to represent renewal and progressive change. However, despite this symbolic promise, the SDP lacks substantive impact in Nigeria’s complex political environment. The party’s existence does not translate into genuine institutional reform or meaningful democratic consolidation. Instead, Nigerian politics remains marred by entrenched issues such as corruption, ethnic divisions, and electoral malpractice that hinder any new political actor from effecting substantial change.

Moreover, the SDP’s inability to distinguish itself from established parties suggests that it fails to embody the qualities associated with a “new bride.” Rather than offering innovative policies or an alternative governance model, it appears as another participant in Nigeria’s cyclical political stagnation. Consequently, while multiple avenues exist to identify a “new bride” politically—such as ideological novelty or reformist zeal—the SDP conspicuously lacks these attributes in contemporary Nigerian politics. 

Despite its initial allure, the SDP’s platform lacks the ideological clarity and policy depth necessary to challenge Nigeria’s entrenched political norms. In essence, the SDP’s failure to articulate a distinct political vision or leverage grassroots support further underscores its inadequacy as an agent of change within Nigeria’s entrenched political system. Furthermore, the SDP’s lack of strategic alliances and failure to galvanize a broad-based coalition further diminishes its potential as a transformative political force in Nigeria. 

The party’s lack of a coherent strategy to address Nigeria’s pressing socio-economic challenges further exacerbates its inability to resonate with the electorate and establish itself as a credible alternative. Without a compelling narrative or a robust grassroots engagement strategy, the SDP remains ill-equipped to navigate and influence the complex political terrain of Nigeria, leaving them in stark contrast to what one might expect from a truly revitalizing political entity. 

The SDP’s inability to distinguish itself from the existing political framework further limits its capacity to attract voters seeking genuine change. Moreover, the absence of a clear and compelling policy agenda not only hinders the SDP’s ability to differentiate itself from established parties but also limits its appeal to a populace yearning for substantive political reform. Without a clear vision or innovative approach, the SDP’s efforts to engage with Nigeria’s diverse electorate remain superficial and largely ineffective. 

READ ALSO: https://newsng.ng/the-plight-of-farida/

The party’s failure to articulate a clear stance on key national issues, such as corruption and electoral reform, further alienates it from voters who are desperate for meaningful progress and accountability in governance. The SDP’s struggle to resonate with the electorate is exacerbated by its lack of charismatic leadership. 

Compounding this issue is the party’s inability to effectively leverage grassroots movements or build a robust network of support at the community level. Moreover, the party’s outdated strategies and lack of engagement with Nigeria’s youthful population further diminish its appeal as a viable alternative to the entrenched political entities. This is further compounded by the SDP’s failure to articulate a clear and compelling vision that distinguishes it from established parties, leaving it adrift in a sea of political sameness.

SDP’s inability to leverage its historical significance and past achievements has rendered it almost invisible in a rapidly evolving political environment. Lacking the dynamic qualities and fresh perspectives typically associated with a ‘new bride,’ the SDP struggles to captivate the electorate’s imagination or promise substantial change in Nigeria’s political discourse. In a political landscape where the electorate is increasingly seeking genuine transformation and innovative solutions, the SDP’s inability to adapt and present a forward-thinking agenda leaves it struggling to remain relevant. 

Without a strategic overhaul and a willingness to embrace innovation, the SDP risks fading into irrelevance as voters gravitate towards parties that offer tangible solutions and visionary leadership. The SDP’s inability to resonate with the aspirations of a diverse and dynamic electorate underscores its struggle to remain pertinent in Nigeria’s competitive political arena. 

Despite these challenges, the SDP continues to participate in elections, albeit with diminishing influence and limited success. Such circumstances underscore the necessity for the SDP to undergo a transformative renewal, one that prioritizes innovative policies and embraces the dynamic energy of Nigeria’s younger generation. Engaging with the youth through meaningful dialogue and showcasing a commitment to addressing their concerns could potentially revitalize the party’s image and reconnect it with a demographic that is pivotal for electoral success. 

By fostering an environment that encourages the participation of emerging leaders and by aligning its policies with the progressive aspirations of the populace, the SDP could potentially redefine its role in Nigeria’s political future. By doing so, the SDP may not only rejuvenate its appeal but also position itself as a credible alternative capable of driving meaningful change in Nigeria’s evolving political landscape. For now, contrary to its claims and dreams of unseating President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in 2027, according to Abubakar Dogara, the party’s national vice chairman for the North-Central Zone, the party needs to look inward and look at the vast grounds they are dreaming of breaking to make an impact in 2027.

*James Bwala, PhD, writes from Abuja.

RE: SDP ‘now Nigeria’s new bride’? 

Continue Reading

Trending

Verified by MonsterInsights