Short videos give a boost to popular science

By LiXueqin


NingYuan is an influencer that owns 9.67 million followers on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok. His videos, mostly about popular science, such as why volcanoes are rekindled, the physiological structure of crawfish and why mosquitoes bite, teach audiences in a fun and easy-to-understand way.
Ning likes employing handmade models in his videos to present scientific laws and often uses close-ups to help audiences better understand.
“Popular science videos are meaningless if they are made opaque. The good ones are those that are both understandable for children and attractive for adults,” said Ning.
He told People’s Daily that the biggest challenge in making popular science videos is not about science, but about how to make the videos popular. In other words, video bloggers must try their best to explain highbrow scientific knowledge to audiences in the simplest language.
Today, digital technologies are making popular science extremely accessible online, and the internet, which enables people to learn anytime and anywhere, has become an important way for young generations to enrich their minds.
According to the 50th China Statistical Report on Internet Development recently released by the China Internet Network Information Center, the number of short video users in China reached 962 million as of June this year, accounting for 91.5 percent of the country’s total internet users.
“As user demands evolve, videos play an increasing role. In the past, we wanted funny short videos, but today we want them to be useful and even enlightening,” said Zhang Zhi’an, professor at the School of Journalism, Fudan University.
Many short video platforms have made concrete efforts to enrich their content in popular science, and scholars and experts from a wide range of fields, from energy to manned space, are sharing the latest progress of frontier technologies on these platforms.
For instance, Douyin, in collaboration with the China Association for Science and Technology, recently launched the second season of a popular science short video program joined by Chinese academicians. Relevant videos have been played 130 million times in total.
Chinese geologist Liu Jiaqi noted that short videos are an excellent medium of science popularization as they are interesting and easy to watch.
“A lecture given in a short video can obtain 5 to 6 million views, which is impossible for a traditional one given in a classroom,” Liu said.
Short video platform Kuaishou also launched a knowledge-themed live streaming activity covering a wide range of areas, including economy and psychology. An employee of Kuaishou introduced that cooking lessons were the most sought after in prime time of summer, while musical instrument teaching gained more views between 21:00 and 23:00.
“Short videos and live streaming are making a new trend of science popularization,”said BaiXiaoqing, an associate professor at the Television School, Communication University of China. They can present scientific knowledge in simple language, as well as in pictures and animation， which makes the content more artistic and attractive, she said, adding that such videos can be reached by a wider range of audiences.

Nigeria Air begins operation, recruits pilots, advertise other vacancies

The new Nigerian national air carrier, Nigeria Air has advertised the recruitment of Nigerian Captains, First Officers, Senior Cabin Crews, Cabin Crews and other critical staff.

This was made public Friday amidst cynicism by some stakeholders in the sector that it will take off with foreign Pilots and crew.

The airline in an advertisement posted by the Special Assistant to the Minister of Aviation, Dr James Odaudu on Friday said it will be “launching shortly with Boeing 737-800 (NG) aircraft, followed thereafter with B787 aircraft for international operations”.

In a similar development the Ethiopian Airlines has been confirmed the preferred bidder of Nigeria Air, following a successful bid.

Aviation Minister Hadi Sirika announced this at a press briefing in Abuja on Friday.

According to him, the airline and a Nigerian consortium won the bid and they will have 49% and 46% controlling shares respectively.

The Minister disclosed that Ethiopian Airline was the only airline that met the bidding close date and also met the evaluation criteria.

He stated that the consortium has been subjected to a due diligence process, after which the contract will be negotiated between the consortium and the FGN, leading to a Full Business Case, which will be expected to be approved Federal Executive Council (FEC).

The federal government according to Sirika expects this process to take six to eight weeks.

The report stated that Nigeria Air will launch with a shuttle service between Abuja and Lagos to establish a new comfortable, reliable and affordable travel between these two major Nigerian Airports.

Other domestic destination will follow thereafter, adding that the Request for Proposal (RFP) under the PPP act, governed by ICRC, is completed.

“An interim Executive Team of highly skilled Aviation Experts has been working since FEB 2022 to set up all the necessary regulatory and industry requirements to launch the National Carrier. All Executives have been approved by NCAA, the Air Transport License has been issued by NCAA, Nigeria Air (after having identified the first three aircraft) will now finalize all necessary Operation Manuals and then go through the inspection and approval process of NCAA.

“The money spent for the launch of Nigeria Air, for all the requirements to establish an AOC and be admitted starting an airline operation, is well within the 5% capital investment of the Federal Government of Nigeria, that will be overall needed to establish the National Carrier initially for the AOC approval and everything else required by stringent national aviation regulations, as prescribed in the FEC approved Outline Business Case (OBC).”

“The new airline will be owned by a Nigerian private investor consortium together with a 5 percent federal government holding, including Ethiopian Airline’s shareholding,” the company said in the advertisement.

The positions to be filled include qualified and experienced Boeing 737 captains, first officers, senior cabin crew and cabin crew, and engineers (B1/B2 preferred).

The positions, it stated, are based in Abuja or Lagos with “competitive salaries to be offered”.

“All qualified and interested candidates are to visit the application portal for other open positions which will be available shortly on the website www.nigeriaair.world,” it said.

NASS decries inadequate funding of $530m Abuja, Keffi, Makurdi road

The House committee on works led by its Chairman Hon. Engr. Abubakar Kabir has deried the poor funding of the Abuja, Keffi, Makurdi dualisation project, while charging the contractor China Harbour on quality.

Hon Abubakar stated this while leading his committee on oversight on the road project.

The 220km Abuja, Keffi, Makurdi dualization is financed with Chinese counterpart funding of 85%( amounting to 460,822,440.20) while the Nigerian government is contributing 15% (amounting to 81,321,607.09) bringing the total contract sum to over $530m.

The project is divided into two components which are the addition of two lanes on the existing dual carriage from Kugbo in Abuja to the border of Nassarawa state, which is about 5.2 kilometers and the addition of another carriageway to the existing keffi- Akwanga-Lafia-Makurdi road which is about 221.8km long.

The committee chairman decried the inadequate release of counterpart funds for the project noting that it was a major problem for the timely completion of the road.

“We asked them about their challenges and concerns, one of which was funding for the project and budgetary allocation. But last year, we provided a lot of funding for this project and the new budget is coming in the next few weeks”.

Speaking in the same vein the project manager, Mr. Li Qiang Qiang, said the contractor was doing its best to ensure timely completion of the road and employed the FG government to release its counterpart funding for the project.

“this project has been ongoing on for 3years, we have a plan in place and we want to finish this project next year. Currently we are preparing for the funding to ensure processing and successful completion of the work.

“We are processing the budget and compensation issues, we have completed around 72% but our payment is 60%. The project is very long, that is why it is very important for us to get a budget each year so that the program can move accordingly”.

Addressing the ‘failed portions’ of the road, he expressed sadness and promised the problems would be rectified “I’m sad to see these sections, the failures should not be happening because we followed the procedures and specifications. We need to go back and analyze what happened with the road, in my opinion the water level of the area is too high”.

He assured that all concerns would be rectified before the road is handed over to the FG.

On completion the road is expected to last for 15 years before requiring maintenance.

China sees vigorous development of its manufacturing industry over past 10 years

By LiHongxing, People’s Daily


China’s value-added industrial output grew from 20.9 trillion yuan ($3.1 trillion) in 2012 to 37.3 trillion yuan in 2021, with an average annual growth rate of 6.3 percent.
During the same period,manufacturing value-added output increased from 16.98 trillion yuan to 31.4 trillion yuan, accounting for nearly 30 percent of total global output.
China has maintained the largest producer of over 40 percent of the world’s 500 major industrial goods.
These inspiring achievements mirror the steady growth of China’s manufacturing sector in terms of both quantity and quality. The Chinese manufacturing sector, with a more complete industrial system and supply chain, has come to a new level regarding comprehensive strength, innovation capability and competitiveness.
The manufacturing industry is the very foundation for building China and improving its strength and the lifeblood of the national economy. In recent years, China has made huge efforts to upgrade the manufacturing industry and build itself into a world manufacturing power.
The country believes high-quality development of the manufacturing sector, in particular that of equipment manufacturing, plays a major role in China’s drive toward high-quality development of the economy. It is working to enhance the quality and strength of the real economy, especially the manufacturing sector, and is building advanced manufacturing clusters with international competitiveness.
Over the past 10 years, China’s manufacturing industry has witnessed historic achievements and changes, which have laid a solid material foundation for the country’s development.
The industry continuously improved its comprehensive strength and market players also gained greater vitality. So far, China has nurtured over 400,000 industrial enterprises above their designated size, or those with main business revenue of 20 million yuan or above, as well as more than 40,000 specialized and sophisticated small- and medium-sized enterprises that produce new and unique products.
The quality of the supply system for China’s manufacturing industry has significantly improved. The country has ranked at the top of the world in terms of the production and sales of new energy vehicles, and as of 2021, the shipment volume of 5G smart phones in China hit 266 million units.
Besides, the country has accelerated the upgrading of production models in the manufacturing industry and made new progress in the industry’s high-end, intelligent and green development. It made breakthroughs in airplane manufacturing, manned space programs, power equipment and high-end numerical-control machine tools. By the end of 2021, the digital control rate of key processes in industrial enterprises and the penetration rate of digital R&D and design tools reached 55.3 and 74.7 percent respectively.
Innovation and key technologies remain the core competitiveness of the manufacturing sector. As of 2021, investment in the sector’s R&D had reached 1.54 percent, up from 0.85 percent in 2012, and the figure stood at 10.3 percent among specialized and sophisticated enterprises that produce new and unique products. More than 570 Chinese industrial companies made their way onto the list of the global top 2,500 companies in terms of R&D investment.
China has constructed 23 national manufacturing innovation centers and those jointly built by the central and local governments, and offered support in the construction of 125 basic public service platforms for industrial technology. Innovation is now taken as a priority in developing the manufacturing industry, to make the sector healthier and more robust.
International Union of Railways recently published two international standards for high-speed railway infrastructure design and power supply, which were mainly drafted and developed by China.
It is expected that China will make its manufacturing industry even stronger as it maintains fast growth, improves innovation capability, as well as speeds digitization and green transition.

China confident in its path of socialism with Chinese characteristics

By Zhong Yin, People’s Daily

Good news about technological breakthroughs are pouring in these days.

China’s Shenzhou-14 astronauts have completed their extravehicular activities; the country’s Long March rocket series has set a record of 103 consecutive successful launches; China’s domestically developed single-aisle C919 passenger jet has undergone all the test flights for obtaining an airworthiness certificate in the country…

These breakthroughs fully prove the notable strengths of China’s socialist system in pooling resources and efforts for major undertakings, and have further enhanced Chinese people’s confidence in their own development path.

Whether China follows a right development path directly concerns the rise and fall of the undertakings of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Chinese people. The path of socialism with Chinese characteristics is the right path that leads the Chinese people to happiness and tranquility.

China is a large country with over 1.4 billion people. Its large size brings it not only advantages, but also difficulties. It’s a huge challenge to achieve modernization in such a large country. At present, only about 1 billion people, or less than 1/7 of the global population, are living in modernized countries and regions. China has to make much more efforts than other countries do to better its development.

There’s no precedence in human history that a major developing country with a vast territory, a huge population, and a big gap in regional development has ever achieved modernization. Therefore, China must explore a path of its own.

The fundamental reason for China’s remarkable progress is that it has unswervingly followed the right path of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

At an activity introducing CPC’s experiences held at the Hangzhou International Expo Center, Zhejiang province on April 14, 2021, Zhang Guojin, Party head of Chengxi village, Zhejiang’s Sanmencounty shared with 430 attending foreign deputies a story of how nine Party heads of the village had worked successively to lift villagers out of poverty.

Zhang showed 35 notebooks to the foreign deputies, which recorded how the village that was once barely able to feed its villagers has turned into a provincial-level demonstration village that sees annual revenue of over 10 million yuan ($1.43 million). In the past years, the village has lifted its grain output by 27 percent and built factories for industrial development.

In just about three decades, China, the world’s largest developing country, has eradicated absolute poverty and become the world’s second largest economy. Such a development miracle exactly indicates that socialism with Chinese characteristics is the right path for China.

A country or a nation is able to make such a miracle only when it has firm faith in what it pursues. As a socialist country with a huge population and a super large market, China has to encounter pressure and challenges that are never encountered by other countries on its way to modernization.

Today, profound changes unseen in a century are evolving rapidly in the world, and the Chinese nation has entered a key stage of its rejuvenation. Standing at a new historical starting point, the Chinese people have the courage, confidence, and ability to manage their own affairs well.

At the National Archives of Publications and Culture, a number of exhibits are displayed, such as the gavel that witnessed China’s accession to the WTO in 2001, newspapers recording poverty alleviation stories, and the design sketches of Bing DwenDwen and ShueyRhonRhon, the mascots of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics. They are witnesses to China’s remarkable progress in modernization.

If the path is correct, one will eventually reach his destination. Rooted in a land of more than 9.6 million square kilometers, nourished by a nation’s culture of more than 5,000 years, and backed by the invincible force of nearly 1.4 billion people, China is confident in following the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

China makes big strides in developing whole-process people’s democracy in past 10 years

By Zhong Yin, People’s Daily

In the first half of 2022, 319,000 posts left on the Message Board for Leaders, a section on the People’s Daily Online website, were replied by leaders and cadres nationwide.

Over the past 10 years, a total of over 3 million posts on the section were replied.

The section is a platform from which leaders and cadres hear the voices of the people, learn the difficulties faced by the people, and solicit opinions from the people. It vividly explains the value and purposes of the Chinese democracy that is “for the people” and demonstrates the unique advantages of the whole-process people’s democracy.

Democracy is not an ornament to be used for decoration. It is to be used to solve the problems that the people want to solve. Whole-process people’s democracy in China is a complete system with supporting mechanisms and procedures. It prevents individuals from manipulating the political process to win elections, and leaves no room for politicians to shower promises while campaigning and break them all once elected.

Whole-process people’s democracy integrates process-oriented democracy with results-oriented democracy, procedural democracy with substantive democracy, direct democracy with indirect democracy, and people’s democracy with the will of the state. It is a model of socialist democracy that covers all aspects of the democratic process and all sectors of society. It is a true democracy that works.

An accurate understanding and a determination to forge ahead are preconditions and the key for realizing, developing, and enriching democracy. A sound and genuine democracy must allow the people to become masters of the country.

The people’s status as masters of the country is the essence of people’s democracy. From the system of People’s Congresses to the system of multiparty cooperation and political consultation under the Communist Party of China (CPC) Leadership, from the broad patriotic united front to the system of regional ethnic autonomy, and from “courtyard discussions” to “community talks,” the people’s status as masters of the country is the bedrock of all the systems of the country. These well-coordinated and comprehensive institutional procedures serve to put into place diverse, open, and well-organized democratic channels.

In practice, the principle of the people being masters of the country is manifested in the Party’s governance policies and measures, in all aspects of the work of Party and state organs at all levels, and in the efforts to meet the people’s expectation for a better life. In a word, China’s whole-process people’s democracy is one that centers on the interests of the people.

Democracy starts with the full expression of the people’s wishes, but if people can only voice their wishes but have no way to fulfill them,that is no real democracy. China’s whole-process people’s democracy covers the economic, political, cultural, social, eco-environmental and other fields, with a focus on national development, social governance and people’s lives. Whole-process people’s democracy is a comprehensive and coordinated system involving extensive and regular participation, ensuring that the people’s voices are heard and their wishes are represented in every aspect of China’s political and social life.

In making and implementing decisions on major issues concerning reform, development and stability, and on matters bearing on the vital interests of the people, China conducts extensive consultations in all fields and at levels through various channels, including proposals, conferences, discussions, seminars, hearings, assessments, consultations, the internet, and opinion polls.

Through open-door legislation by the National People’s Congress (NPC) and transparent decision-making by the government, more and more ideas and suggestions of the general public are reflected in the major decisions of the Party and the government.

China has ensured that its people have channels to express their aspirations, wishes and demands on issues ranging from important national strategies and policies to social governance and basic necessities of life, enabling their voices to be heard and their requests to be answered.

On a wall in the Gubei Civic Center in Hongqiaosubdistrict, Changning district of Shanghai, there is a watercolor painting of a rainbow bridge. On the painting, Hongqiao stands on one end of the bridge and the Great Hall of the People, the meeting place for the full sessions of the NPC, stands on the other.

As one of the first grassroots-level legislation contact point designated by the Legislative Affairs Commission of China’s NPC Standing Committee, the Hongqiao contact point has participated in opinion collections for 67 draft laws and provided 1,363 pieces of feedback. It fully demonstrates the strong vitality of the Chinese democracy.

As long as China embraces the people-centered development philosophy and unswervingly promotes whole-process people’s democracy, it will surely ensure the sound development of democracy and pursue well-rounded human development and common prosperity for everyone.

Japan should destroy ACWs in China as soon as possible

By Zhong Sheng, People’s Daily

A delegation of over 40 members recently paid a virtual visit to China regarding the destruction of Japan’s abandoned chemical weapons (ACWs) in China.
The delegation included Director-General of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Fernando Arias, as well as diplomatic envoys or representatives from a number of countries to the OPCW.
During the visit, all the participants were briefed by China and Japan on the overall situation and destruction progress of Japan’s ACWs in China, and took a virtue visit to Haerbaling, Dunhua, northeast China’s Jilin province, the largest burial site of Japan’s ACWs in China.
The delegation agreed that Japan’s ACWs in China must be destructed as early as possible and said it would work for the early realization of “a world free of chemical weapons.”
Japan employed a huge amount of chemical weapons during its aggression against China. To cover its crimes, it buried many of the chemical weapons on the spot or threw them into rivers and lakes before it surrendered.
Today, Japan’s ACWs are found at over 120 sites in 18 Chinese provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities. It is estimated that around 330,000 pieces of such weapons remain buried in Haerbaling alone. Both the range of the burial sites and the number of the ACWs are astonishing.
Japan’s ACWs are one of the monstrous war crimes committed by Japanese militarists. They have long threatened people’s lives and health, as well as ecological security in relevant regions in China.
To comprehensively, completely and thoroughly destroy Japan’s ACWs in China and eradicate the poisonous legacy of Japanese aggression is a solemn promise made by the Chinese government to the Chinese people, as well as an implication of the victorious outcome of the World Anti-Fascist War.
Since 1990s, China has launched negotiation with Japan over the destruction of Japan’s ACWs in China. In 1997, the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) came into force. Under the efforts of China and the support of the international society, the CWC stipulates that the abandoning state party shall provide all necessary financial, technical, experts, facility as well as other resources to destroy the ACWs.
Under the strong pressure from politics, legal documents and public opinion, Japan had no choice but to admit its crimes. In 1999, China and Japan signed a memorandum on the destruction of chemical weapons abandoned by Japan, which marked the official start of the destruction work.
However, the destruction process didn’t go very well.
According to the CWC, Japan should’ve destroyed all its ACWs before 2007, but the process has been significantly delayed as Japan was not paying enough attention to the matter and lacked investment. So far, Japan has only excavated and recovered over 90,000 items of the weapons and destroyed more than 60,000. This is clearly not satisfying for the Chinese people and the international society.
Japan has never provided China with complete and accurate information about its ACWs. Both the total amount and specific locations of Japan’s ACWs in China still remain unknown today. These weapons have been buried for decades and caused huge soil pollution in China, but the Japanese side refuses to fulfill its responsibility.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the normalization of China-Japan diplomatic ties, which provides an important opportunity for the two sides to review history and shape the future together.
The issue of Japan’s ACWs tests whether Japan can face up to history. It is also a touchstone that tests whether the country can make contributions to regional peace, stability and development.
Japan should see clearly that saying one thing and doing another on the issue of ACWs will not work. The Chinese people will never let it go as long as Japan’s ACWs in China are not completely destroyed.
The CWC has been implemented for 25 years. It’s a common aspiration of the international society to solve the issue of ACWs at an early date and realize “a world free of chemical weapons.”
Japan should show the political will to fulfill its international obligations and the political courage to redress its historical crimes, and earnestly increase input to completely and thoroughly eliminate the harm of ACWs as soon as possible and return a clean land to the Chinese people.

China sees intensive, extensive development of opening up in past 10 years

By GuXueming, Zhang Dan

Opening up is a fundamental policy of China, as well as a hallmark of contemporary China. Following the introduction of the reform and opening up policy in 1978, China has fully grasped the opportunities brought about by economic globalization and constantly expanded opening up, making a historic change in its relations with the rest of the world.
Over the past 10 years, China has worked to change its opening up pattern from one based on the flow of products and factors to one based on institutions and rules. A new system for a higher-standard open economy has taken shape.
The country witnessed rapid growth in exports of high-technology, high-quality and high-value-added products. From 2013 to 2021, annual export growth of high-technology products stood averaged 5.1. The comparative advantages of Chinese exports are more and more driven by innovation, rather than factors.
Thanks to the improvement in both the volume and quality of inbound foreign investment, China’s high-tech industry lifted its actual use of foreign capital from 140.9 billion yuan ($20.08 billion) in 2016 to 346.9 billion in 2021, with an average annual growth of 19.7 percent. More and more multinational companies are setting up headquarters, R&D centers and purchasing centers in China.
China has been accelerating the building of a new system for a higher-standard open economy. Since 2013, the country has set up 21 pilot free trade zones (FTZs), and they have seen their successful practice in 278 cases of innovation in institutional reform promoted at the national level.
The number of items on the national and FTZ negative lists has been downsized to 31 and 27, respectively, which effectively activated the energy, impetus and potential of reform and innovation.
The construction of the Hainan Free Trade Port is in steady progress. A tax system that is applicable to high-level free trade ports is being established step by step according to the principles of zero tariff, low tax rate, streamlined tax structure, strengthened law enforcement, and phased implementation, to enhance trade liberalization and facilitation.
In 2020, China ranked 31st among 190 economies in the World Bank’s ease of doing business index, rising from 96thin 2013 and becoming one of the fastest-growing economies in the world.
Over the past 10 years, China has promoted reform, development and innovation through opening up, seeing continuous improvement in the quality of its economic development.
By advancing supply-side structural reform through high-level opening up, optimizing imports and improving the quality of domestic supply by exploiting domestic and foreign innovation factors, China is providing products and services of higher quality to the global market and promoting mutual reinforcement between the domestic and international circulations. China’s efforts further optimized factor allocation in industries, accelerated industrial restructuring and raised the quality of economic development.
The added value of the service sector accounted for 53.3 percent of China’s GDP last year, up from 46.1 percent in 2013, maintaining an important engine driving economic growth. The country’s manufacturing industry also saw a significant rise in its comprehensive capability and international influence. The share of the added value of China’s manufacturing industry in the world increased to nearly 30 percent in 2021 from 22.5 percent in 2012, which has consolidated the fundamentals for China’s economic development.
Over the past 10 years, China has adhered to win-win cooperation and made unswerving efforts to build an open world economy despite the headwinds of de-globalization.
Facing unstable global recovery, rising de-globalization, as well as profound changes and a pandemic both unseen in a century, China has worked to stabilize foreign trade and foreign investment, and improve the management system for foreign investment. It has boosted confidence in global recovery while pushing for the healthy development of its own economy.
Between 2019 and 2021, the average annual growth of China’s actual use of foreign capital stood at 10.8 percent, 9.1 percent higher than the global average. During the same period, the average annual imports growth was 13.7 percent, 5.7 percentage points higher than the global average.
China’s contribution to global economic growth exceeded 30 percent for years, and the country, with a minor rise in its export prices, is alleviating global inflation, serving as an important force driving global recovery.
China follows a principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits and promotes high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative, which not only brings win-win benefits to participating countries, but also enhances the wellbeing of their people.
Responding to the international aspiration for more equitable, sustainable, and secure development, China proposed the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative for building a community with a shared future for mankind. The two initiatives have been warmly responded by over 100 countries.
The development of China in the past 10 years has fully indicated that opening up is the path China must take to achieve prosperity and development. China’s door of opening-up will not be closed and will only open even wider.
Facing the future, China will take advantages of its super large market, drive high-quality development with high-level opening up, and further integrate itself into the world to stabilize global trade and investment, world economy and people’s confidence. With the outcomes ofhigh-level opening up, the country will benefit not only the Chinese people, but also the people ofthe rest of the world.

Bature ya kashe masoyi a Kano

By Joyce Babayeju

Kungiyar ‘Yan Kasuwa a Kano sun yi Allah-wadai da kisan Ummulkulthum Buhari da wani dan kasar waje da ke zaune a Kano ya yi.

Martanin ‘yan kasuwar Kano ya biyo bayan zargin da ake zargin wani dan kasar waje ne ya daba wa masoyinsa wuka har lahira a unguwar Kuntau da ke unguwar Janbulo a cikin birnin Kano.

 Ummulkulthum Buhari, an bayyana shi a matsayin matashiya mai shekaru 23 da ta kammala karatun kimiyyar noma a Jami’ar Kampala, Uganda.

A cikin wata sanarwa da Wakili Kano Mista Mikre Zhan ya sanya wa hannu a madadin ‘yan kasuwa kuma mai taimaka masa, Guang Lei, Zhang ya fitar, ta ce “wannan matakin abin la’akari ne kwata-kwata kuma wani laifi ne da ya kamata hukumomin tsaro su binciki kansa.

Sanarwar ta kara da cewa, ‘yan kasuwa a Kano suna da cikakken goyon bayan dokar da ta bi yadda ya kamata.

‘’Sun kuma yaba da irin karramawar da aka yi wa ‘yan kasuwar nan na Kana kuma za su ci gaba da kasancewa masu bin doka da oda da sada zumunci da bayar da gudunmawa ga ci gaban Kano.

Sanarwar ta kuma yi ta’aziyya ga iyalan marigayiya Ummukhulthum Buhari.

Nigeria Largest Beneficiary Of Chinese Business Interests – Don

Nigeria has benefitted significantly from its trade relations with the Peoples Republic of China and Chinese private sector companies (PSCs).

Dr Olalekan Babatunde, a research fellow of the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution and an expert in international trade disclosed this in an exclusive interview with newsmen in Abuja on Monday.

The Don said the 50-year trade relations between both nations have benefited Nigeria in all aspects of human life ranging from infrastructural development, job creation, human capital development and technology transfer.

“Since independence, we have seen the infrastructural gaps in the country. We have seen our relationship with the West. We have seen the inadequacies. The unequal relationship. We have also seen what China is bringing with no strings attached. China has given infrastructural support to Nigeria through trade and investment,” he said.

“You can see the massive infrastructural development across the country in rail, ports, roads, bridges, energy, telecommunications and even in military and cultural exchanges. We have seen both countries forging closer relationships than many other countries in the world.

“We have seen the revitalization of the railway connecting major cities in the country. We have seen the Lagos-Ibadan rail project which was started by the Obasanjo administration from 1999 to 2007. We have seen Abuja-Kaduna, Kaduna-Kano and then Kano to Katsina rail projects. We have also seen plans to connect Lagos to the South-South, then from there to the Northeast. Through these rail projects courtesy of the financial re-established. of the Chinese, people are being connected, trade is being harnessed and relationships are being re-established.4 Movements that used to take a longer time because of bad roads, and bad infrastructure are now taking a shorter time and now more convenient for Nigerians to move from one location to another.”

Dr Olalekan maintained that aside from employing thousands of Nigerians, Chinese companies in the country have contributed significantly to Human Capital Development and technology transfer through the training of Nigerians with relevant skills in construction, mining, rail, solar energy, telecommunications and so on.

“Nigerians are now engaged in the learning of Solar Energy brought into the country by the Chinese. We now have Nigerians becoming specialists in the fabrication and repair of batteries, inverters and other components of solar energy.

“Courtesy of the Chinese, we have lots of Nigerians including ladies driving trains at the railway stations across the nation. You will see lots of Nigerians operating machines in Chinese companies. In irrigation, energy, manufacturing companies, and poultry, the skills transfer is there. They are doing intense in-house training for their Nigerian workers. Nigerians just want to be equipped with this knowledge in a more organized and systematic way.”

The academics advocated for increased investment from China, especially in the areas of security, agriculture, and the setting up of a Lithium battery-making factory in Nigeria.

Recall that the Chinese government had provided $4.084bn for the provision of critical infrastructures in Nigeria. Some of these include the revitalization of the Abuja-Kaduna and Lagos-Ibadan rail projects, Abuja Metro Light Rail, Lekki Free Trade Zones, terminal expansion of federal airports, Zungeru Hydro Power Dam, upgrading of the Abuja–Keffi-Makurdi road project among others.

According to figures from the China Global Investment Tracker, Chinese companies have also invested close to $41bn in the Nigerian economy as of July 2021. They have also employed over 200,000 Nigerians who are trained with relevant skills in ICT, engineering, construction, transportation, and agriculture among others.

N1.084 billion was generated from the rail sector in the second quarter of 2021, according to official figures from the transport ministry.