China is to help Nigeria to drill 598 boreholes in Nigeria's capital Abuja and 18 states as a free- aid project, Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria Wang Yongqiu told Xinhua Friday.

The project "is aimed at providing clean drinkable water to ordinary Nigerians living in out-of-the-way areas," he said, adding that he hoped both China and Nigeria would cooperate closely to implement the project smoothly so as to enable the project to benefit Nigerian people as early as possible.

On behalf of the Nigerian government, Nigerian Minister of Water Resources Alhaji Muktar Shagari said China's free-aid water supply project "is a typical example of bilateral cooperation" between Nigeria and China, appealing other countries to "learn from China."

Because of poor water supply facilities, the majority of Nigerian people have no access to clean drinking water. They have to fetch water from unclean or even polluted rivers and creeks.

As a natural result, every year witnesses millions of people suffering from such water-infected diseases as enteritis, diarrhea and cholera and deaths of hundred of thousands of people in the most populous African country with a population of over 130 million.

Source: Xinhua