Senate President Bukola Saraki has met with a group of investors from the Nigeria-China Business Council (NCBC) led by Chief Matthew Uwaekwe and Mr. Xie Shao of Skyrun International. Representatives from Xuji Group, HSIN Tay and Nanfeng were also at the meeting.

Saraki reassured the visitors that one of the priorities of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government and the 8th Senate is to ensure an investor-friendly climate in Nigeria by providing enabling environment through legislation that will help with job creation, and economic self-sufficiency of many of our still virtually untapped sectors.

Meantime, a delegation of Chinese company has commenced visits to three states in Nigeria with the aim of setting up rice production factories in the country.

The three states that will benefit from the partnership are Imo, Akwa Ibom and Cross River States where the governments are expected to earmark lands for the projects.

The Chief Executive Officer of Sanya, Twin Rice Industry, Research and Development Company, Wang Jingxin, who led the company’s delegation to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on Monday, in Abuja, said as a precursor to the commencement of business in the country the delegates would be visiting the states in the next few days to study the areas and set up pilot schemes as soon as possible.

Jingxin said the company will also bring its research component into Nigeria in order to increase yield.

Speaking the Nigeria’s Consul General in Shanghai, Ambassador Ali Ocheni, said the company will need 500,000 hectares of land for the initiative and will ask for more if the land is suitable for rice production.

“It is the state governments that will determine where the factories will be located,” he said.

The Permanent Secretary, Ambassador Bulus Lolo, represented by the Director, African Bilateral Affairs at the ministry, Ambassador Ozo Nwobu, enjoined the delegates to also visit Ebonyi State, which is notable for local rice production.

Lolo noted in his remarks that 25 per cent of the African population battles hunger and poverty, adding that these two factors must be fixed for Africa to secure its future.

He said it is disheartening that Nigeria imported rice worth $20 billion annually, prior to ban on rice importation, when it has all condition for the cultivation of rice in its favour.

“Your engagement with us will provide opportunity to develop the conditions for rice cultivation, especially in all aspects of the sector, including cultivation, processing, packaging and marketing,” he told the delegation.

He added that “now that there is going to be local production, if Nigeria will invest its $20 billion judiciously in rice production, the commodity will make us competitive globally.”

“It will not only help us to feed ourselves, it will as well, be a source of revenue generation,” the permanent secretary said.

It was learnt that the government of Imo State has already earmarked 10,000 hectares of land to the project, while the whole project is expected to kick off with 500,000 hectares.