Chinese Investment and Aid to Africa: Philanthropy or Neo-Colonialism: The Nigerian Experience

The paper examines Chinese investment and aid to Africa; philanthropy or neo-colonialism: The Nigeria experience. The paper reflects on the utility of aid and investments which remains an important aspect of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Nigeria. It interrogates Chinese trade relations with Nigeria usually through aid and investments with a view to determining whether they are borne out of an altruistic concern or a furtherance of Chinese strategic political and economic neo-colonial adventure in Africa. The paper deploys the dependency theory to analyze the relationship between Nigerian and Chinese economies. Data were obtained from secondary sources and analyzed using content analysis. Findings revealed that trade relations between China and Nigeria are skewed disproportionately in the interest of China and to the disadvantage of Nigeria. The paper recommends amongst other things that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Nigeria should be dictated by overall national interest and development strategy; establishment of import-substituting industries jointly by the Nigerian and Chinese governments to reduce importation from China; provision of an enabling environment by the Nigerian government for businesses to thrive; and generally improve the ease of doing business in Nigeria.

Keywords: Investment, Aid, philanthropy, neo-colonialism, trade, dependency, Nigeria.