The National Council for Arts and Culture, in collaboration with the Peoples’ Republic of China, is spearheading a capacity-building program aimed at benefiting no fewer than 3000 Nigerian youths in the latter part of the year.
Otunba Segun Runsewe, the Director General of the National Council for Arts and Culture, shared this information with news reporters during his meeting with the Chinese Cultural Attaché Lee Xuda at the Nigerian Culture House in Abuja.
Runsewe’s recent trip to China offered valuable insights into the secrets of Chinese ingenuity and creativity in goods production. He emphasized the importance of providing Nigerian youths with exposure and training in such environments to acquire crucial skills and knowledge in various aspects of goods production.
Reiterating his stance, the Director General confirmed that the forthcoming capacity-building programme will include youths selected from each state of the federation and the FCT. The state governments and the FCT will sponsor these youths to attend the training in China. The National Council for Arts and Culture will be responsible for the facilitation and coordination of various skills acquisition programmes.
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Underlining the importance of the capacity-building programme, Otunba Runsewe stated that the skills acquired by the youths will be instrumental in promoting growth and economic development at the state level and, by extension, benefit Nigeria as a whole.
The Chinese Cultural Attaché Lee Xuda acknowledged the strong bilateral and economic ties between Nigeria and the People’s Republic of China. He also pointed out that Nigeria stands as one of the African nations drawing significant investments from China.
The mainstay of China and Nigeria’s bilateral relations is economic and trade cooperation, as mentioned by the Chinese Cultural Attaché Lee Xuda. He highlighted China’s substantial contributions towards Nigeria’s economic development, given its wealth of human and natural resources.
Assuring Nigeria of their support, the Cultural Attaché stated that the Chinese Government is keen to collaborate in areas that will bring about the advancement and growth of the Nigerian economy.
Subsequently, the Chinese delegation was given a tour of the Nigerian Culture House by the Director General.