Occasional Paper

Elephants, Ants and Superpowers: Nigeria’s Relations with China

“This paper considers economic and political relations between China and Nigeria.The paper first sketches the post-independence history of their bilateral relations, charting a progression from indifference and even hostility in the early years, to intense engagement in the early 2000s, but a distinct cooling-off at the present moment.
There follows analysis of the two countries’ trade relations, revealing a large, persistent trade imbalance in China’s favour, and the extent to which Nigeria’s exports are dominated by oil. The rest of the paper is taken up with sectoral studies, starting with the critical oil and gas sector, and followed by power generation, rail transport, construction, communications,
manufacturing and retail, free zones, and finance.”