China confirms that Nigeria is its largest engineering contracting market in Africa

Chinese officials recently highlighted Nigeria’s position within China’s long-term developmental and economic strategies, citing the country’s growing influence in infrastructure projects, investment, and bilateral trade.

• Chinese officials highlighted Nigeria's pivotal role in China's long-term economic and developmental strategies.
• Nigeria is China's largest engineering contracting market in Africa, and also ranks as the second-largest export market and third-largest trading partner for China on the continent.
• The seminar in Beijing aimed to strengthen China-Nigeria collaboration, especially through media and storytelling, emphasizing deeper people-to-people connections.
• China has contributed to major infrastructure projects in Nigeria, such as the Lagos Light Rail, Lekki Deep Sea Port, and Zungeru Hydropower Station.

During a seminar in the Chinese capital, Beijing, attended by prominent Nigerian government officials and media figures, Nigeria was touted as one of China’s major African partners.

It was also made known during the seminar that Nigeria now stands as one of China's premier market for engineering and construction on the African continent, boasting the title of the largest engineering contracting market in Africa.

“Nigeria is China’s largest engineering contracting market, second-largest export market, third-largest trading partner, and a major investment destination in Africa,” he stated.

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Additionally, the West African country also stands as China’s second-largest export market and third-largest trading partner in Africa, according to the Deputy Director at the China International Communications Group, Li Hengtian.

As seen in the Punch newspaper, the Deputy Director began the session by stating that the goal of the seminar was to improve communication and collaboration between the two nations through media cooperation and people-centered storytelling.

“Stories are the highest form of human communication,” he said, quoting Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

“Today, in Beijing at the beginning of summer, we are here precisely for stories, to tell China’s stories, to listen to Nigeria’s stories, and even more so, to together write a new chapter of China-Nigeria friendship,” Li added.

Nigeria and China’s strategic ties

According to Li Hengtian, Deputy Director at the China International Communications Group, Nigeria also functions as China's second-largest export market and third-largest trading partner in Africa.

Invoking the words of Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, he remarked that stories represent the highest form of human communication.

Li further stated that the gathering in Beijing served to facilitate the exchange of national narratives and to co-author a new chapter in the diplomatic friendship between China and Nigeria.

He described the two countries as civilizational allies, noting a diplomatic relationship that has been maintained since 1971.

“For over half a century, this friendship has been like the Niger River and the Yangtze River: though separated by vast oceans, they each flow ceaselessly, eventually merging into the great sea of a community with a shared future for mankind,” he said.

Furthermore, Li underscored Nigeria's strategic significance within China's broader objectives for economic expansion across Africa.

“From the Lagos Light Rail to the Abuja Rail Mass Transit, from the Lekki Deep Sea Port to the Zungeru Hydropower Station, monuments of China-Africa cooperation have risen one after another across the African continent,” he stated.

He remarked that this relationship contributes to a collective future for humanity.

Furthermore, Li emphasized Nigeria's strategic importance within China's broader economic expansion objectives in Africa.

The deputy director noted that several significant projects, including the Lagos Light Rail, the Abuja Rail Mass Transit, the Lekki Deep Sea Port, and the Zungeru Hydropower Station, serve as prominent examples of China-Africa cooperation across the continent.

He further asserted that the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and the Belt and Road Initiative are now significantly dependent upon the bilateral relations between China and Nigeria.

“In the grand narrative of the Belt and Road Initiative and the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, China-Nigeria cooperation has always been a highlight. More and more Nigerian youth are travelling east to pursue the starlight of knowledge in Chinese institutions; more and more Chinese builders are heading west to Nigeria to sow the seeds of development on its fertile soil,” he said.

“This year, the two countries are working together to build a China-Nigeria community with a shared future. I believe that with the joint efforts of China and Nigeria, mutually beneficial cooperation will progress steadily and yield more fruits on the African continent,” he added.