Africa - China Economic Forum: Nigeria - China Bilateral Relationship......PART 2

 .........................Continued from previous post

The imbalance in trade relations can be address to ensure that the relations lead to mutual beneficial outcomes for both countries. Although trade remains the most important element in Nigeria’s trade relations with China, it has not been complemented significantly by the flows of investment and aid between the two countries. The consequence of intensive asymmetric bilateral interaction to the achievement of Nigeria’s broader national goal should be given serious thought by the Nigerian policy makers and the public alike as such relationship could be jeopardized if one-sided trade relations continue. A continuation of this pattern of lopsided relationship might have serious repercussions for Nigeria. The intensification of dependent relationship can provide an enormous advantage to China in continuation of its economic and industrial expansion.

 

The expansion of Nigeria’s bilateral trade interactions with China is constrained by a number of factors. These include the imbalance in the structure of level of their trade, the inadequacy of the industrial infrastructure for promotion of relations, the incidence of flooding of the Nigerian market with substandard goods from China, inability to implement various bilateral agreements between the two countries and most significantly, corruption. Corruption is a dreadful phenomenon, which destroys the fabric of all governmental structures in a nation. It is a canker worm which should be abhorred by any nation that want progress and development. Corruption has been with societies throughout history. However, in Nigeria, the insatiable appetite for corruption has become an endemic disease, which has brought concomitant sufferings, untold economic dilapidation, unrest, poverty and lack of infrastructural facilities and underdevelopment to the people so much that the dividends of democracy are not earned and the country’s economic objectives have become an illusion. Corruption in Nigeria has been traced to colonialism, arguing that colonialism in Nigeria was built on corruption. The corruption has weakened all democratic processes in local, state and federal levels of government in Nigeria. It has dampened morality, weakened meritocracy and produced an avalanche of misrule, selfishness, ineffectiveness, colossal misappropriations of funds and unwillingness of those who were elected into governmental power to quit their offices as at when due.

 

 However, despite these challenges, the bilateral relationship should be symbiotic and mutually beneficial to both countries. Therefore, it must be emphasized that Nigeria’s bilateral policy towards China has undergone a number of shifts of emphasis and reappraisal of priorities. Nigeria-China relations should, however, go beyond rhetoric’s. The possibilities and potentials of a bilateral cooperation between the two countries have not been fully exploited. Nigeria and, indeed, Africa should move beyond the bounds of marginality and peripheral association where we are looked upon as marginal factors merely for tilting matters in favor of developed market economies. Nigeria abounds with immeasurable reservoir of opportunities for trade, investments, business, and cooperation. The indifferent response to invitations of Chinese investors to come and invest in the country has not been encouraging, as one would have expected.

 

Trade Nigeria, a wholly indigenous organization that is duly incorporated in Nigeria, a public private partnership project with the government of Nigeria on international trade, foreign direct investment, business development, trade promotion, economic exchange and multilateral cooperation with main focus on economy growth and development. In collaboration with the Federal Government of Nigeria through its agencies, Trade Nigeria is instituting a Nigeria-China Economic and Business Forum, which is part of the Organization’s annual joint trade mission. 

 

The Africa-China Economic Forum will help to promote, expand and diversify Nigeria’s export base by making the non-exports contribute significantly to the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) and it should be aided under the current bilateral agreement of both countries for mutually beneficial, sustainable economic development and balance of trade.

 

 

 

Trade Nigeria will be using the platform to evolve a cooperative mechanism that would enable Nigeria increase its export of manufactured goods to China. This will to a large extend reorient the  Chinese companies in Nigeria to diversify their economic activities, rather than restricting themselves to merely importing finished goods from China for sale in Nigeria; they should invest in the productive sectors of the Nigerian economy and thereby gain from the export of such Nigerian-made goods. It is true that Nigeria has created an enabling environment for investors, but beyond this, Trade Nigeria is encouraging the development of trade on a wider scale that will eventually leads to industrialization and more investments.

The aforementioned subject is brought to you, courtesy of National Mail.

National Mail is an online news platform of Trade Nigeria that focuses on business development, Investment, trade, economic exchange and development. 

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