Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
The All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, has revealed that Nigeria will bank on Vietnamese government to revive the defunct textile industry in the country.
Oshiomhole, who made this when a delegation from the Vietnamese Government paid a visit to members of the National Working Committee (NWC) in Abuja, further noted that President Muhammadu Buhari is determined to accelerate economic growth to meet the needs of Nigerians in this his second term in office.
“With a population of 200 million we have the advantage of a huge market but we also have a huge challenge of ensuring an economic growth that will make that 200 million people comfortable. Before the coming of President Buhari, we have missed a lot of opportunities.
“We had challenges in power supply and of course we have our own share of security challenges. And of course the President had to fight corruption so that few people cannot take the wealth of this nation. Nigerians voted overwhelmingly for our President, so we are going to take advantage of this second term to ensure that we accelerate economic growth so that we will meet the needs of our people.
“Right now, we are focusing on ensuring that we have power supply. Vietnam has a strong textile industry and you have international market, so I am glad to know about that.
“I am particularly keen on this because I work in the textile factory before and I think that there are one or two things we can learn from your experience because we are on the verge of reviving our textile industry which will help us create jobs.
“That is why you see the APC which was formed in 2014, our key objective is to ensure that our economy is managed in such a way that it works for the good of the majority and not for a few,” he noted.
Speaking further, he said that “To achieve accelerated growth, the APC-led federal government is reviving our textile industry so that we work towards taking advantage of our comparative advantage in this sector so it can help provide jobs to the over two hundred million of our population.”
The delegation was led by His Excellency, Nguyen Hai Ninh, the Deputy Chief of Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam.
Oshiomhole who disclosed that President Buhari is in a hurry to provide jobs to unemployed Nigerians as well as accelerate the growth of the economy, noted: “It is as a result of this that the APC-led administration is fighting corruption vigorously so our common wealth will not be concentrated in the hands of a few but that of the majority.”
The former Exo state governor further commended the Vietnamese government for backing Nigeria in its bid for the presidency of the United Nations, adding that the two nations will continue to deepen its relationship in the area of trade and investment for the benefit of the two countries.
Speaking earlier, Nguyen Hai Ninh said they were on the visit to establish official relationship between the APC led government and the communist party of Vietnam.
He used the opportunity to solicit the assistance of Nigeria in settling the crisis between Vietnam and China over the disputed South China sea, urging Nigeria to insist that the dispute be settled according to the UN established laws.