Nigeria and the People’s Republic of China on Friday launched the Contemporary World Nigeria Magazine to develop the Africa-Based policies and practical solutions to tackling insecurity in West Africa.
The Chinese Foreign Minister joined virtually in the launch of the intellectual magazine spearheaded by the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR).
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama said that contents of the magazine will entail a different, practical and indigenous way in finding solutions to the challenges of insecurity and terrorism confronting Nigeria and Africa.
“This enhances the cooperation at the academic level to start with, to give a platform for a sharing of experiences through research work with the aim of enhancing and promoting peace and which the world is very much in need of at the moment.
“So, this is a very big step in the cooperation between the two countries.
We have come a long way. China has evolved and developed really the policy of non-interference in the affairs of other countries.
“Nigeria has played a role in trying to enforce peace and security on the continent of Africa but in particular in ECOWAS sub-region.
“And have intervened over the years to maintain peace in the sub-region, and Nigeria is looked at to by African countries to play that role.
“But now, because of the global challenges that we have, because a lot of threats to peace and security in the world, there is a commonality, terrorism in particular.
“And of course, our cooperation with China has increased into the security area so it is not just economic cooperation.
“The Chinese government is collaborating and assisting Nigeria in the area of efforts to counter terrorism. So, the relations between our two countries have evolved in that sense to encapsulate peace and security.
“So the launching of this magazine is also a way to bring in the academic dimension and to Chinese researchers, Nigerian researchers and academics to also make their contributions in the search for peace and security,” Onyeama said.
Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Cui Jianchun said that publication which is the first in Africa was initiated to enable Nigerian and African researchers’ study and analyze their challenges and come up with their own practical solutions and policies to addressing the challenges.
“We are doing the first all over the world. Chinese Contemporary World Magazine and IPCR are doing the number one all over the world and this magazine is all about ideas.
“It is all about solutions, it is about the believe, opinion, so we believe that is very important. We are taking the lead in the whole African continent and also beyond Africa.
“The second thing I will like you to know is that IPCR and China contemporary magazine are focusing on harmony and symphony. Today, I am in Nigeria, I said that we share Chinese harmony, perform the Nigeria-China symphony.
“I do believe with this flagship magazine cooperation we are not only doing things for Nigeria, we are shinning lead to the whole African continent.
“So this reason China choose Nigeria to be the most influential, impactful country to do this very big idea, solutions,” Cui said.
Dr Bakut Bakut, Director-general, IPCR said that Nigeria is delighted to have beaten five other countries to win the publication rights of the Chinese Contemporary World Magazine geared at ensuring sustainable peace and security on the continent.
Bakut said that the publication which is 100 per cent funded by the Chinese government aims at bringing scholars, intellectuals, researchers are bringing out will enable policy makers to develop policies that will enable us to tackle these challenges that we see.
“This is the first time a Chinese contemporary magazine having its name being used by another agency outside them that is, contemporary world Nigeria rather than China.
“This enhances the cooperation at the academic level to start with, to give a platform for a sharing of experiences through research work and so on,” Bakut said.