KEY POINTS

• By June 2024, Nigeria pulled in $1.27bn in BRICS investments from $438.72m in 2023.
• Trade with China hit ₦7.38tn in H1 2024, as strategic MOU’s linked to imports.
• CAIBA Forum strives to enhance innovative efforts aimed at lowering African and Chinese trade barriers.

Nigeria attracted $1.27 bn capital from BRICS nations as of June 2024 — much higher than peak of $438.72 mn recorded during the same period of 2023, vice president, Kashim Shettima, said.

At the 2024 China Africa Inter Bank Association (CAIBA) Forum in Abuja, Shettima spoke of the deepening economic link with BRICS and of the nation’s strategic engagement with it, as a matter of fact, is not a member of the bloc.

“Nigeria will remain committed to strategic partnerships that engender our domestic growth,” Shettima said. He linked the wave of the investment to mutual trust and development oriented, collaboration that was further cemented at the BRICS Summit slated for October 2024 in Russia.

Nigeria’s number one trading partner

Shettima also pointed out that China is Nigeria’s biggest trading partner and that both nations’ trade stood at ₦7.38 trillion between the first half 2024.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s diplomatic sources helped bolster this growth, highlighted by his signing of five Memoranda of Understanding during his official visit to China in September of last year. These agree with China’s Belt and Road Initiative, looking to enhance infrastructure in Nigeria.

“China ’s involvement and Nigeria ’s economic trajectory shows the need to deepen financial, trade relations,” Shettima said, adding that bilateral cooperation is critical to the country’s sustained economy.

The CAIBA Forum highlights cross border opportunities

First Bank Group CEO Olusegun Alebiosu commended the partnership that is developing trade and investment between Africa and China at the CAIBA Forum. Africa’s industrialisation and economic diversification, he stressed, will require innovative solutions to remove barriers to trade.

Vice president of China Development Bank Wang Weidong commented that similar infrastructure and SME support programs that China Development Bank has implemented in 33 African countries have helped bring 270,000 jobs, underscoring the socio economic benefits of China-Africa collaboration.