Assessing the Gains and Challenges of Nigeria’s Participation in The Forum On China-Africa Cooperation(FOCAC) (Published)
The paper examined the benefit that Nigeria has gotten following her participation in the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation(FOCAC) which was established in the year 2000 in Beijing, China. FOCAC is seen as an example of the South-South Co-operation attempt to realise the dreams of the Guandung Conference held in Indonesia in 1955. The paper relied on secondary data which were sourced from textbooks, journal papers, and seminar papers among others that are related to the subject matter and adopted complex interdependence theory as a framework of analysis. Findings from this work show that Nigeria’s participation in the forum has greatly enhanced trade and increased Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) as available data shows that FDI in Nigeria has increased exponentially heating 19.27 billion US dollars in the year 2019 against 1,900 times that of 1971 when the diplomatic ties were established. FOCAC has also helped in developing Nigeria’s infrastructure like the construction of the Abuja- Kaduna railway line, among other benefits. However, findings also revealed that there are challenges in this relation, typical among them are the fear expressed by so many Nigerians of the likely hood of Nigeria falling into the Chinese debt trap, unbalanced trade which favors China, and security challenges confronting Nigeria like kidnapping, banditry, and terrorism among others. Based on this, the work recommends that China should use the platform of FOCAC to allay this fear of the debt trap and assist Nigeria in confronting these securities challenges. On the part of Nigeria, the paper recommends that Nigeria need to increase her export trade among other measures, as this will help her build a strong economy and have the resources to supply China’s growing need, rather than demand for energy resources and other raw materials.
Keywords: Africa, Assessment, China, Cooperation, forum
Europe On Fire: The Russo-Ukrainian War, Its Causes and Consequences (Published)
The Russian-Ukrainian war did not arise overnight, its repercussions were over time, as Russia crosses Ukraine part of it, as it is the dividing line between it and the whole world. Therefore, when Russia saw the intention of Ukraine and NATO to join Ukraine, it immediately declared war with a forward-looking reaction to prevent this. Indeed, Putin launched a war on Ukraine on February 24, 2022, certainly the whole world persecuted it as a brutal act, and various economic sanctions were imposed on Russia to urge it to stopping the war, but in vain, Russia did not respond to anyone and did not stop the war. Does this mean that we are on the verge of a global nuclear war, given that the war includes countries with huge nuclear arsenals, or that the war could end in reconciliation one day?
Asmaa Elsherbiny (2022) Europe On Fire: The Russo-Ukrainian War, Its Causes and Consequences, Global Journal of Political Science and Administration, Vol.10, No.4, pp.71-83
Keywords: China, Europe, NATO, Russia, Russian war, Ukraine, United States, War
Nigeria-China Economic Relations: Matters Arising (Published)
Nigeria’s bilateral relation with China has been in place over a decade after Nigeria gained independence from the British realm. The Relationship has expanded both growing bilateral trade and strategic cooperation. It is within this basis that the Nigeria-China relations were examined focusing on the issues, challenges and prospects. Secondary method of data collection was employed for this study and the data were analysed qualitatively. The study revealed among others that Nigeria foreign trade policy has been inconsistent with economic relations with China. The paper also revealed unbalance of trade between the two nation states; the term of trade between the two countries shows that Nigeria’s import is greater than her export hence; China has gained more than Nigeria in the long run especially in the area of oil exploration and exploitation. The unwillingness of Chinese government to fulfil its part of agreement to transfer technology to Nigeria was also revealed. The paper therefore concluded that since the relation between Nigeria and China is asymmetrical and lopsided one, it will be difficult for Nigerian government to solve the country’s problem together with her national debt to China if measures are not put in place. Hence, it’s recommended that Nigerian government should reform her system of trade towards China which will not only boost her technological advancement but her negotiation capacity to maximise more benefits in the country’s economic relation with China. Most importantly, Nigerian government must adhere to her foreign trade policy in future dealings with China.
Citation: Osimen, Goddy Uwa & Micah, Ezekiel Elton Mike(2022) Nigeria-China Economic Relations: Matters Arising, Global Journal of Political Science and Administration, Vol.10, No.3, pp.42-54
Keywords: China, Nigeria, economic relations, matters arising