Gulf widens as Nigeria spends N19tr on Chinese goods in 45 months

Intra-African trade routes may be facing a historic blockage as China expands its domineering influnce in the region, touted as the most commercially dependent across the globe.

Trade data gleaned from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and analysed by The Guardian show that Nigeria has spent N19.12 trillion on imported commodities from China in less than four years – from January 2018 to September this year.

Economists have seen the deepening Chinese influence in the local market as a huge drain and cost on the ailing domestic economy as imports constitute leakages on any economy.

In 2020 Nigerian families were cut in several different places starting with higher taxes, a malevolent global health pandemic and serial job losses on the back of multiple company shutdowns.