Foreign Policy and Nigeria’s Economic Development: A Case Study of Nigeria-China Relations 2015-2018

Foreign policy is an important instrument which guides nations in their relations with other nations of the world for survival. Since independence, Nigeria’s relations with the outside world have taken both bilateral and multilateral dimensions. These relations cut across political, socio-cultural cum economic relations. More recently, there has been an increased economic relation between Nigeria and China which has raised a lot of concerns as to whether the relationship is symbiotic or parasitic like that of the Western countries. The study therefore sets out to examine if Nigeria-China relations enhanced economic development in Nigeria. The study adopted ex-post facto research design as it made use of documentary method of data collection and content analysis. Theory of complex interdependence was used as a framework of analysis. The findings reveals that the relationship between Nigeria and China politically have been reciprocal and to an extent the bilateral relations had enhanced economic development but the excessive trade imbalance in favor of China has been the nature of the China –Nigeria relations. It also reveals that the imbalance in trade has entrenched dependency on the part of Nigeria’s economy. Thus, the study recommends among other things that, Nigeria should be more pragmatic in protecting its local producers by regulating the inflow of Chinese goods into the Nigerian market and by placing an embargo on certain products so as to enable such to be produced locally by local manufacturers. The researcher also recommends that Nigeria should not be carried away by their desire for immediate gain but should develop a long term plan of developing and expanding her economy just like their Chinese counterpart has done.