Mr Li Xuda, Counsellor of the Chinese Cultural Centre Abuja, has said the Chinese Government is ready to support the dreams and aspirations of Africans, especially Nigerian youths, for a better and greater future.

Li made this known at the “My Dream” painting competition and award ceremony for secondary school students in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Abuja.

He said like many other programmes the annual painting competition aims at fostering cultural exchange and cooperation between China and Nigeria.

He said that Nigeria was blessed with a lot of young talents and the Chinese Government was keen on helping them to realize their dreams which would further be of positive impact to Nigeria.

Li hailed the victory of Mr Prosper Daniel, who won the first Prize in the Painting Competition among 2,000 works from African youths sent to China in March.

“Dear friends, we know that culture is the soul of a nation, so cultural exchange and cooperation definitely play an important role between countries,” he said

“Over the years, African youths have expressed strong interest in outer space and their desire to “fly to space” someday in the future,” he added.

“Chinese Government is ready to actively support these ‘African Dreams’ of exploring the vast universe,” he said.

“This year, the Secretariat of the Chinese Follow-up Committee of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) and the China Manned Space Engineering Office are co-hosting a painting competition on the theme of “My Dream”.

“In Nigeria, over 10 “China Corner” schools participated in the competition; about 100 pieces of painting were collected, and the Top 5 excellent paintings were sent by the Chinese Embassy to China for the final selection.

He said Prosper Daniel would be invited to visit China in September and all the related costs, including international air tickets, would be covered by the Chinese Government.

“Encouraged by his success, I believe Nigerian students will grow up as new builders of a China-Nigeria good relationship, and make our cultural exchange more fruitful as well as our tomorrow more beautiful,” Li said.

Director-General, National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC) Otunba Segun Runsewe, commended the Chinese Embassy for coming up with very unique programmes of discovering talents by youths in Nigeria.

Runsewe said it was also key for Nigeria to leverage on the platforms already provided by the Chinese to improve Nigerian youths who could use creativity in them to come out with something great.

He also reiterated plans of the NCAC to send 3,000 Nigerian youths to learn from Chinese creative industries and return with the expertise to grow Nigeria’s economy.

“Out of 40 countries, over 3000 paintings, Nigeria came first; I am very excited that we are known all over the world for good things, not for the wrong reasons, so I am very happy.

“This will keep them busy; this will make them a sense of belonging that they have something to offer to society.

“This is an opportunity to change the story and narrative of Nigeria. So the 3,000 Nigerian youths will be based on the train-the-trainers capacity strategy.

“I do not want Nigeria to be left behind, so that is why we are being proactive now; get these younger Nigerians to key into it, and in the next few years, our story will change.

“Unemployment will reduce, criminality will reduce and it will be better for this great country,” Runsewe said.