ABSTRACT

China`s recent growing presence in Africa nearly over a decade is a reflection of its broader emergence as a global power. In the wake of its rapid economic development as the second largest economy in the world today, and of its growing role in the global geo-political arena, there are increasing heated debates around the world on the kind of development path and foreign policy China is pursuing, and how it affects the rest of the world, including Africa. This gave birth to this research work which discusses the Africa and China’s Relations in the 21st Century; Using Nigeria as case study. This relation is governed by agreements which cut across political, trade, investment, aid, technical and military. The implementation of these agreements is uneven as China is strategically on the advantage side and Nigeria perpetually on the disadvantaged position. Therefore, the study examines the key features and patterns of the economic relations between Nigeria and China specifically to identify and examine the determinants of Nigeria–China relations; critically examine the relationship between economic reforms and increase in foreign investment between Nigeria and China. To analyze the issues raised, the study was anchored on the dependency theory. The research relied heavily on secondary source of data in order to substantiate the research hypotheses. The findings after a detailed review of the existing literature and analysis of available data were: Nigeria’s exports to china have been dominated by oil exports; import concessions and preferential treatments granted to Chinese investors at the expense of Nigerians created a loss in revenue; Chinese manufacturers have gained at the expense of Nigeria because of their ability to produce and export cheap products to Nigeria thereby undermining Nigeria’s industrializations efforts. It is thus suggested that the Nigeria economy be diversified; exports and dependence on oil exports be balanced with other resources untapped.