The Forum on China–Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) and knowledge transfer in Sino-Nigerian development cooperation

Abstract

States always trade across and explore opportunities for relevant information on reforms capable of responding to progressive demands of domestic growth and national development. Presently, the traditional development landscape has expanded to include new actors not only devising new development models but also providing a variegated supply of developmental know-how in support of global prosperity – one of the most visible case studies being China’s South–South-based cooperation with Africa via the Forum on China–Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). In their development cooperation, FOCAC-based initiatives posture to bridge inequality and disparity between both sides often through the transfer of knowledge. Regarding this, the Forum employs knowledge sharing as a combination of capacity development initiatives in the form of training and educational, technical, human capacity-building and human resource development, including technology cooperation. However, citing marginal impact on industrialization processes of African countries, sceptics maintain that FOCAC’s trail in the so-called ‘second continent’ translates as a systematic imposition of a Beijing-centric paradigm of globalization. Notwithstanding, given the promise of cross-cultural cooperation in knowledge production, rather than succumb to monocausal critiques on sub-optimal development assistance, this article evaluates the prospects of Nigeria capitalizing on China’s stock of development know-how more strategically.