China’s Extraction in Nigeria: A Mirror of Western Imperialism

I agree that Nigeria’s role as a consumer nation is a structural problem maintained by design. But blaming only Western powers ignores today’s realities. In the first quarter of 2026, Nigeria imported $6.85 billion worth of finished goods from China and exported less than $1 billion in raw materials. This huge trade deficit shows how we remain stuck selling raw resources and buying manufactured products. Chinese infrastructure projects use Chinese labor, materials, and equipment. When they end, the loans stay as debt, the machinery leaves, and local skills vanish. Meanwhile, Nigerian diaspora remittances topped $23 billion in 2025. That money goes directly to families. Chinese firms repatriate profits instead. If we truly want to shift from consumption to production, we must challenge all forms of extraction, not just those with a Western face.

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