China, Nigeria Sign Pact To Foster Peace, Development

The Embassy of the People’s Republic of China, on Tuesday, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Institute for Peace and Conflict resolution (IPCR) to prevent insecurity, foster peace and development in Nigeria.

The Chinese Contemporary World Magazine agreement, an intellectual publication, will have the contents on mechanisms to prevent insecurity, good governance, poverty eradication, among other issues.

Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Cui Jianchun, in his remark, said that his country understands the value of peace and would share its experiences with Nigeria in the joint publication to ensure peace and sustainable development in Nigeria.

Cui said that Nigeria is the first country in Africa to sign the MoU with the Chinese government, adding that this shows how much importance China attaches to Nigeria.

“Today we make it a reality. We found a good partner from China and this is the contemporary World magazine and it is a very powerful magazine all over the world.

“Here the Nigeria Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution is a very important institute, not only for Nigeria. You know peace, we need peace, we need resolution.

“Nigeria, we have serious problems, we have problems of insecurity, China also we have insecurity but mostly from external forces. But in Nigeria we have different insecurity.

“And I discuss with the DG how we can do things differently and the good thing is to have symphonies and my idea advocating harmony is to share Chinese harmony, to perform Nigeria-China symphony.

“Today is a very good example of how we can have cooperation between the two most important institutions and try to provide our idea, our approach, and our solution to Nigeria to the African continent, to the whole developing countries.

“So, I do believe that this is just the beginning and also this is supported by the two governments and I think we can do good things,” Cui said.

Dr Bakut Bakut, director-general, IPCR Dr. Bakut Bakut said that the signing of the Chinese Contemporary World Magazine MoU between Nigeria and China is another stride in the already existing good bilateral relations between both countries.

Bakut said that with the content of the magazine duly applied, Nigeria will begin to prevent insecurity and spend less on fighting the scourge.

“It is a magazine, but not just an ordinary magazine that you see on the road. This is an intellectual magazine which is focused on looking at issues that are not sentimental.

“We look at real issues of governance, International relations, economics, development, poverty eradication, culture, environmental issues.

“Security is part of what we are doing. The reason for the Institute of Peace and Conflict Resolution is a preventive agency.

“If we have enough money to prevent insecurity, there will be no need for the army of police to collect money to resolve the security challenges.

“In other words, what we are doing, we are a security related agency, and we try to prevent insecurity before it becomes an issue. So this is the purpose,” Bakut said.

Bakut explained that aside from being an intellectual magazine, the policies will make an impact across all strata as the IPCR now have zonal offices across the country to implement policies.