Finance Minister Lauds Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival

Ayodeji Ake

The Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed has applauded the 2018 Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day, adding that it was a bonding relationship between the two countries.

Speaking at the event recently held in Lagos and organised by Huaxing Arts Troupe of Nigeria, Zainab said the event was an excellent initiative that the Chinese community in Nigeria had taken, to bring their friends of the country together, to celebrate the Chinese national day and to create more bonding.

Calling for more robust relationship between the two countries, she said: “We come, sit and watch interesting cultural performances, it makes the friendship stronger. We invite more Chinese to come to Nigeria because we are open for business.”

On the claim that money borrowed from the Chinese has not been well utilised, she said: “Maybe in the past, some borrowing was made and not utilised but the current administration is borrowing for projects and they have been utilised.”

Head, Huaxing Arts Troupe of Nigeria and CEO of Seven Stars Tissue Paper, Eric Ni, said, “Chinese and Nigeria both celebrate independence on same day. China and Africa is closer than ever.
“We are family and we are growing stronger than ever. We have been celebrating this for the past 15 years in Nigeria, doing cultural exchange.

“President Buhari and my president met recently to sign an agreement and that indicated that we are always ready to support Nigeria. We are trying our best and working together as a family and I hope that within a short period, the economy will be better.

“We also used the event to support 20 students by giving them N50,000 scholarship each. As part of our contribution to Nigeria, we support not less than 100 students across the country yearly.”