Nigeria, China Strengthen Bilateral Cooperation for Brighter Future (2025)

...Nigeria, China strengthen bilateral cooperation with Lagos Forum

In a significant move towards deepening bilateral relations, Nigeria and China have reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening cooperation across various sectors.

The Director General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, NIIA, Prof. Eghosa Osaghae, and the Consul General of the People's Republic of China in Lagos, Ms. Yan Yuqing, made the commitment yesterday at the second edition of Lagos Forum, at NIIA, Lagos.

Co-hosted by NIIA, Chinese Consulate General in Lagos, Africa-China Economic Magazine and the Institute of African Studies, Jinhua, China, the Lagos Forum has become a vital platform for China-Nigeria dialogue and has played a pivotal role in fostering partnership between both countries.

Speaking at the event, Osaghae emphasized the need for Nigeria to transition from being a mere recipient of cooperation to co-creators, saying that the transition would entail moving away from donor-led models towards demand-driven, African shaped strategies, that focus on long term, sustainable impacts rather than short-term projects

Represented by Prof. Efem Ubi, the Coordinator of Lagos Forum and Director of Studies at NIIA, Osaghae highlighted the need for engagement between young entrepreneurs from Nigeria and China in order to explore new business models and innovations.

According to him, the Lagos Forum aimed to create innovative cooperation frameworks in the areas of trade, infrastructure, green energy, digital innovation and security.

He noted that this year's theme: "2024 FOCAC Beijing Summit: Exploring New Paths for China-Nigeria and China-Africa Cooperation", was crucial for Nigeria and the African continent, especially at this time "the world is evolving at an impressive pace, with geopolitical shifts, technological advancement and pressing need to tackle climate change."

"Since the inaugural Lagos Forum in March last year, the Forum has fostered strong bilateral relations, resulting in numerous MoUs between our two governments and elevating our partnership to more comprehensive, strategic levels," Osaghae remarked.

In her remarks at the event, Yuqing said that China was committed to high quality development and high level opening up, with a focus on trade, infrastructure, science and technology cooperation. "The doors of China's openness will only continue to open wider and wider and China will continue to improve market access to Nigeria," she said.

She said there's the need for both countries to deepen strategic mutual trust and cooperation to address global challenges like economic deglobalisation, terrorism and public health crisis, among others.

Outlining four key expectation for China-Nigeria relations, Yuqing said that China was ready to work with Nigeria to deepen infrastructure cooperation by jointly building high quality Belt and Road connectivity network; broaden openness and cooperation by encouraging two-way investment and trade; promote people-to-people exchanges and cultural dialogue and also deepen global governance and cooperation to address shared challenges.

Charles Udeogaranya, President, Goods Made-in-China Importer Association, speaking, decried the high lending rates and epileptic power supply in the country, saying that for Nigeria to industrialize, the two challenges must be dealt with.

He also emphasized the need for the government to empower Nigerians with a single digit lending rate as it's obtainable in China, arguing that it would enhance the productive sector.

"The Chinese government empowers their enterprises to be competitive. We do not have such. We also need to be empowered financially for us to compete, for us to at least, produce to meet the needs our local needs. If we cannot do that, then let's open our doors and bring Chinese, who have access to finance to come here and produce some of these products and we will export from here to other nations, at least the African markets," he said.