Chinese envoy urges Nigerian parties to cooperate for development

The Chinese ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Cui Jianchun, has said that political parties in Nigeria and other African countries should cooperate for national development rather than compete for power.

Citing the political development in his country, the envoy explained that the Communist Party of China had been ruling the Asian nation for 100 years in cooperation with eight other parties which met regularly with the CPC to review its performance every five years.

The ambassador stated this at the public presentation of a book, ‘A century of the Communist Party of China: Why Africa should engage its experience’, written by an expert on Chinese development and foreign affairs analyst, Mr Charles Onunaiju, in Abuja on Thursday.

Jianchun further argued that like the CPC, every political party must have performance ideals and objectives and also be people-centred.

He said, “The book gives an introspection and reflection of party politics and lays bare the secrets of the CPC and how it moved China from a backward to a progressively developing nation.

“There are eight parties in China and they engage in cooperation, not competition. The parties meet every two weeks to discuss pressing issues and how the nation can move forward as well as how the CPC is executing its policies. They also give advice to the CPC. This system works in the Chinese political system.”

The ambassador called for the export of more Nigerian goods to China, promising to make this happen during his tenure in Nigeria.

The author lamented the inability of Nigerian political parties to drive national development, stating that they could learn a lot from the way the CPC conducted its activities in China.