The Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) has called on China to make more efforts towards understanding and implementing Nigeria’s foreign policy trajectory, which majors on development, democracy, demography and diaspora.

Director General, NIIA, Prof Eghosa Osaghae, said China should begin to expand its horizon beyond state engagement, explaining that they should diversify their investment more to involve the private sector as against the public sector to drive the economy.

This was at the Lagos Forum 2024, themed, ‘The Chinese in the Nigerian Economy – Deepening Development Cooperation: Towards A Shared Future, A Better World’, in Lagos and the book launch of ‘The Chinese in the Nigerian Economy’, authored by Mr Ikenna Emewu in Lagos.

The event was organised by NIIA in partnership with the Chinese Consulate General in Lagos, Africa-China Economy Magazine and Institute of African Studies, ZNU, China.

On demography, Prof Osaghae said the country should seek ways to partner with Nigeria in reducing poverty levels through investments in manufacturing, while stating the need to mainstream the Nigerian diaspora into the organic framework of foreign policy.

Speaking on Nigerian Perspective of China-Nigeria Relations, he said the struggle has always been about deconstructing past structures so that hegemony and superpower, which would destroy multilateralism, are not reproduced.

“It is known that hegemonic competition and rivalry is a counterforce to multilateralism because it makes it almost impossible for the system to have its full expression in the areas of collaboration, partnership and shared prosperity,” he said.

Osaghae suggested that it’s time to determine how far China can help Nigeria deconstruct the global power structures using continuous decolonisation as an instrument to ensure the global order works for Nigeria.

Consul General of the People’s Republic of China, Yan Yuqing, said that with the current challenges, there is a need for an equal, orderly multipolar world and a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalisation.

She explained that China advocates that the multipolarity of the world should be equal, through which all countries, regardless of size, are treated as equals, hegemonism and power politics are rejected, and democracy is truly promoted in international relations.

She stated that in 2023, China-Nigeria bilateral trade reached $22.56 billion while reiterating that the progress toward greater multipolarity should be stable and constructive, and the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter must be observed by all, and universally recognised.

She explained that China desires a universally beneficial economic globalisation, that meets the common needs of all countries, especially the developing countries, and properly addresses the development imbalances between and within countries resulting from the global allocation of resources.

Yuqing stressed the importance of opposing the attempt to roll back globalisation, all forms of unilateralism, protectionism and abuse of the concept of security, while firmly promoting trade and investment liberalisation and facilitation, overcoming the structural problems hindering the healthy development of world economy, and make economic globalisation more open, inclusive, balanced and beneficial.

Acting Director, Research and Studies, NIIA, Efem Ubi, said there should be more discussions on what Africa’s interest is in the expanding role of China in the continent.

Research Professor, NIIA, Prof. Femi Otubanjo, said there is a sharp imbalance in the relationship on the economic front, which needs to be evened out.

He hoped that China would focus on partnership rather than creating a hegemonic relationship. He, however, urged Nigerians to work to prevent the relationship from becoming hegemonic.

Publisher, MONEYREPORT Publications, Nik Ogbulie, who reviewed the book, said it is a neo-classical interrogation of the ongoing discourse on the economic, social and political relationship between the two countries.

According to him, the author feels that China’s desire to invest in other worlds is hot, unpretentious and voracious while standing on his conviction that China remains the largest investor in Africa in terms of total capital, since 2014.

“They invested more than $72 billion in the continent from 2014 to 2018, according to the Brookings Institute.

Those investments created more than 137,000 jobs across 259 projects. In 2020, the Chinese were recorded as providing 200,000 direct employment for Nigerians.

“About 10,000 Chinese companies were in operation in Africa in 2018, and almost 10 per cent in Nigeria. The country holds a total of 17 per cent (by value) of the volume of Chinese investments in Africa, and $5b of the $60billion budgeted for FOCAC by Xi Jinping in 2015 at Johannesburg. That is 12 per cent. China’s contribution to manufacturing in Nigeria was nine per cent in 2019.

“Nigeria’s debt to China is $4.2 billion. However, China’s investments in two hydropower projects – Zungeru, ($1.2b) already in use since May 2023 and $5.8billion for Mambilla are close to double the debt figure,” he said, concluding that Chinese investment interests in Nigeria are diverse and varied.