"The amount is 900 million dollars," Olusegun Aganga told reporters after returning from China.

Some 500 million dollars would be used for a railway between Nigeria's capital Abuja and the northern city of Kaduna, while the rest would be for what he called a national public security communications project.

The loans are to come from the Export-Import Bank of China, he said.

Aganga named CCECC and ZTE as the Chinese contractors for the rail and communications projects. The rail project is due for completion in three years and will begin next month, he said.

China, which has invested heavily in Africa in recent years as it seeks to fulfill its growing energy needs, has previously expressed interest in Nigerian oil blocks.

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