Founder of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, ABUAD, Aare Afe Babalola, yesterday, kicked against the balkanisation of Nigeria, saying that its enormous number of tribes and languages are not responsible for underdevelopment.
His words: “Today is the beginning of a new dawn in the relationship between China and ABUAD. Some 50 years ago, the leading industrial countries were USA, England, Germany, Russia, Japan and a few countries in Europe. We learnt that China as merely a big country with so many languages with a land size of 9,388,210 Km2 and population of 1.4 billion, yet largely undeveloped. Nigeria is only 910,770 Km2 and a population of 228,162,838 as at Saturday, April 24, 2024.
“Those who are advocating that Nigeria should be Balkanized should learn from how China took advantage of its size, population and manpower to become one of the leading civilized and industrialized country in the world.”In her goodwill message, the Consul General of the People’s Republic of China in Nigeria, Ms Yan Yuqing attributed the drivers of economic growth of China to science and technology, which has further provided impetus for global sustainable development.
She said: “Africa is the most promising continent in the world in terms of economic development, and Nigeria is the largest economy in Africa. Nigeria, as well as the whole African continent, has great potential for development in terms of science, technology and innovation, talent development and technology-driven innovation.
“Today I invite the heads of CCECC and Power Construction Corporation of China, who have made great contributions to the development of Nigeria’s infrastructure construction, power and agriculture sectors, to accompany me on this visit, and I am sure they will welcome the outstanding students of Afe Babalola University to join them in the future.”