Ikpeazu seeks greater understanding of China, other Nigerian partners

The immediate past governor of Abia State, Okezie Victor Ikpeazu, has called on Nigeria and Africans to embark on more research and data analysis to help them understand the Chinese system in their ongoing cooperation.

Ikpeazu made the call in Abuja during Thursday’s presentation of a book by John C. Azu, Daily Trust’s judiciary reporter, titled: “Contemporary Legal Cooperation: China and Africa – A Contemporary Survey of Legal Systems.”

The former governor said there was a need to understand the growth trajectory of China, how it has evolved as a country and how it turned over 1.3 billion potential liabilities to 1.3 billion skilled citizens making waves globally.  

Recalling how he sought Chinese partnership to set up a textile industry and others in Abia during his tenure as governor, he called on China to teach Nigeria how to fish and not only give it fish.

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“If you want to move your country or any business for that matter from one point to the other, the most important thing is strategy. And you can’t develop a good strategy if you don’t have a proper understanding of data or information on where you are going.

“It might surprise you to note that there is hardly any inch the Chinese don’t know about in this country, but we know so little about them. The only things we know are the beautiful things coming from China, their strong gross domestic product and their efforts to eradicate poverty,” the former governor said.

He commended the author for exploring the legal systems of both countries in his research, explaining that, “If you want to do business in China, you must understand the legal system and what it takes to do business there, how they operate and behave.”

Earlier, the book reviewer, a research fellow at the Nigerian Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution and part-time professor at the Zhejiang Normal University, China, Dr Olalekan Babatunde, explained that the book provided a valuable instrument for navigating some of the legal challenges that may arise in China-Nigeria cooperation.

Speaking during the dialogue session, a lawyer who is familiar with Chinese firms, Nnamdi Ahaiwe, cautioned against misinformation about Chinese activities in Nigeria, maintaining that the allegations of violation of workers’ rights, illegal mining and poor wages against Chinese firms were mostly found to be driven by news hypes rather than substance.

“We have those concerns about the Chinese already because I have been involved in some of those issues, we see how they fly those things on social media; we know that Nigerian firms do all those things three times worse because they (companies) are all humans and not angels,” Ahaiwe said.