Examining China’s Intervention in Nigeria’s Transport Infrastructure

doi:10.7176/ejbm/14-2-02

Abstract

For a country with over 200 million people and a severe infrastructural deficit, the reality is that Nigeria has no wherewithal to meet the demand for fixing its transport infrastructural deficit, alone, without external financing and technical assistance. With the rising constraint on public resources and fiscal space, it is obvious that the government alone cannot provide the resources necessary to address the transport infrastructural deficit in a country like Nigeria. Hence, the importance of China’s intervention in reducing the transport infrastructural deficit. This study examines the nature of transport infrastructure in Nigeria, the causes of the infrastructural deficit in Nigeria and further identifies some Chinese transport infrastructural projects and investments in Nigeria and their impact. This study employed both qualitative and quantitative research methods by collecting and analyzing both quantitative (closed-ended) and qualitative (open-ended) data. The present study found a huge infrastructural deficit in Nigeria transport sector. The study identified corruption among other causes as the main cause of infrastructural deficits in Nigeria. Some of the major BRI infrastructural projects in Nigeria identified in this study include: Abuja Rail Mass Transit Project, Nigeria Railway modernization project (Abuja to Kaduna section), Nigeria Railway Modernization Project (Lagos-Ibadan Section), and Abuja Airport terminal project among other. The paper concludes that there is a deliberate effort to fix the severe transport infrastructural deficit in Nigeria evident in the cooperation between the Nigerian and Chinese Governments. And the Chinese intervention in Nigeria’s transport infrastructure has been largely impactful and beneficial to Nigerians. Keywords: Infrastructural Deficit, Transport Infrastructure, Sino-Nigeria Relations, Infrastructural Development, Chinese Investments DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/14-2-02 Publication date: January 31 st 2022

Highlights

Across the world, China has continued to invest in various infrastructural projects from Asia to Europe to Latin America and across Africa
The level of Chinese infrastructural investments in various Countries has almost tripled since the introduction of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013 by President Xi Jinping (Kuo and Kommenda, 2018) with over 120 Countries signing the BRI Memorandum of Understanding (Matthew and Jonathan, 2019)
1.1 Aim and Objectives This paper aims to determine the level of China’s intervention in addressing the problem of transport infrastructural deficit in Nigeria and achieve the following objectives: 1. To describe the nature of transport infrastructure in Nigeria 2

Summary

Introduction

China has continued to invest in various infrastructural projects from Asia to Europe to Latin America and across Africa. At the Centre of China-Africa relations, especially with the introduction of the BRI is infrastructural connectivity. If this infrastructural connectivity can be accomplished, it will lay a better foundation for Africa’s overall development (Kaczmarek, 2019). The diplomatic relations between Nigeria and China dates back to the early 1970s (Kaczmarek, 2019) and this diplomatic friendship between both Countries has steadily grown over the last decade. According to Aid Data, Nigeria is one of the ten biggest African beneficiaries of China’s Official Development Assistance, collectively receiving US$23.3 billion (Kaczmarek, 2019)

Objectives

Methods

Conclusion