Nigeria Content Online

China
has become the second largest economy in the world, but not without
help from Nigeria which ironically occupies the 44th position in world
economy rankings. Having spent a total of N208 billion in the first
quarter of the year to import commodities from China, Nigeria is
currently running a very imbalanced trade relation with China and other
countries, a situation which experts find disconcerting.

“Such an imbalance
implies that Nigeria is not doing enough in the agro-industry and other
productive fields to develop a balanced trade with China. It is
dangerous to continue to exchange our natural resources for industrial
consumer goods, some of inferior quality,” Raufu Mustapha, an expert on
Nigerian foreign policy and a lecturer at the University of Oxford,
said.

China occupies the
number two position, US being the first, on Nigeria’s imports list.
Between January and March 2010, Nigeria imported about 2000 commodities
from China. In the same period, our country exported about 70 products
to China, earning N42 billion, more than half of which came from the
sale of petroleum products.

Other experts blame this trade imbalance on policy makers.

“Some of the
failure to ensure more mutually beneficial trade relations must be
attributed to the failure of Nigerian policy makers to build upon more
localised Nigerian-Chinese business networks, which in turn could
encourage growth in domestic industry and export production,” said
Sharath Srinivasan, who teaches African Politics at the University of
Cambridge.

Nigerian
government officials take a different stance. Josephine Tapgun, the
Minister of State for Commerce and Industry absolves the government of
Nigeria of any blame on this; but rather blames the citizenry, whom she
says prefer to buy foreign goods than patronize Nigerian manufacturers.

“Most of our
products are of high quality, but Nigerians would rather buy
sub-standard goods. If the Chinese do not find the market in Nigeria,
they wont be bringing in their products,” she said.

Ms Tapgun insists
that the bilateral trade agreement between the two countries does not
permit Nigeria to restrict the number of goods brought into the country
from China.

“There are no
restrictions. How do you force restrictions when we have a global
market? The issue is that Nigerians should patronise our own products.
It is a matter of national interests,” Ms Tapgun said in Abuja over the
weekend.

Curbing imbalance

A cursory look at
Nigeria’s imports from China shows that the goods are mostly finished
products while the exports are largely raw materials. For example,
Nigeria exported cotton seeds worth about N160 million, but spent
almost three times that to import finished products, spending as much
as N153 million on sewing thread.

In three months,
Nigeria spent N131 million on toothbrushes; N38 million on buttons; N54
million on pencils and crayons; and N33 million on plastic combs.

The minister of
state for Commerce and Industry says that Nigerians may be patronising
the Chinese market more than the Nigerian market because Nigerian goods
are not properly packaged.

“There are a lot of problems with our packaging, so much so that our goods are not acceptable to foreigners,” Ms Tapgun.

Experts believe
that the first step to causing a shift in the trade imbalance is to
address the current trade policies affecting the production and
exportation of Nigerian products, while looking to taking advantage of
the existing trade relations between China and Nigeria, and ultimately
Africa.

Mr Mustapha said
that while the trade imbalance is worrisome, the Nigeria-China trade
relations could be used to Nigeria’s advantage or a more mutually
beneficial relationship.

“China gives us an
opportunity to develop our country the way the west has not offered.
The new opening with China should be used to leverage transformation in
some productive and infrastructure sectors of our economy. If this is
done systematically, it should gradually bring down the trade
imbalance. We should place emphasis on the terms of trade. For
instance, insist on value for money. If we give them oil, we should ask
for things like a fast train from Lagos to Kano in return,” Mr Mustapha
said.

Meanwhile, the
minister of state says that the federal government is currently working
to review trade tariffs on imported goods, as a means to encourage the
patronage of locally produced goods.

“The government is
trying to review the tariffs on all imported goods, all with the aim of
discouraging the importation of goods and also to encourage local
manufacturers,” Ms Tapgun said.

The commercial attache of the Chinese embassy in Nigeria declined to comment on this article.

Part of what Nigeria bought from China in past three months:

Toothbrushes – N131 million

Buttons – N38 million

Pencils and crayons – N54 million

Plastic combs – N33 million