- $20B investment from China targets Nigeria’s key industrial sectors.
- Project rollout begins in late 2025 under NCSP coordination.
- Export push aims to access Asian markets for Nigerian goods.
Nigeria has secured over $20 billion in investment pledges from China, targeted at revitalizing its core industrial sectors. The funding spans agriculture, automotive manufacturing, steel production, mining, and energy—areas critical to Nigeria’s ambition to emerge as a continental manufacturing powerhouse.
Joseph Tegbe, Director General of the Nigeria-China Strategic Partnership (NCSP), delivered the message following a number of engagements at the diplomatic and business levels, which coincided with Nigeria and China's recent harmonization to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. Tegbe expressed that the projects are likely to begin rollout before year's end.
Recent engagements have backed more than $20 billion in investment commitments and not just promises, in key sectors.they are looking at projects that will enhance food security, jobs, strengthen power infrastructure, and improve Nigeria's industrial positioning in Africa" Tegbe remarked.
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The NCSP, which was established under the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), is the primary conduit through which Nigerian stakeholders will be related to Chinese investors, by facilitating the mobilization of Chinese assets, technology, and expertise for the acceleration of Nigeria's industrial recovery.
Tegbe pointed out that the difference is that NCSP will go beyond traditional FOCAC agreements. The NCSP is also focused on mobilizing Nigerian produce by ensuring Nigeria's export readiness of produced goods to Chinese and larger Asian markets, thereby also supporting Nigeria's economic diversification via value-added supply chains.
The strategy is in line with Nigeria's Renewed Hope Agenda, which President Bola Tinubu has launched to promote economic diversification, local manufacturing, and industrial competitiveness. Tegbe noted that institutional coordination among government and private actors is a core responsibility of delivering on commitments.
"The purpose of these engagements is to convert policy intents into real economic transformation. We shall ensure that every agreement has its impact on the ground, and that it is sustainable." he said. Now that timelines for implementation are coming up and sectors have been agreed, Nigeria's partnership with China could potentially redefine the future of Africa-Asia industrial collaboration in manufacturing, energy and logistics development.