By Williams Ekanem
China’s renege in funding the Nigerian rail project gives credence to widespread criticisms that Chinese investments in Africa is an exploitative ploy.
Only last week, the Nigerian government laid blame for the abandoned rail project to what it calls, “the unresponsiveness of China,” in meeting its funding obligation.
Nigerian Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Chibuike Amechi is reported as saying, “we are stuck with lots of our projects because we cannot get money, the Chinese are no longer funding,” a situation that has seen the Nigerian government seeking new sources of funding the railroad project.
Reuters confirmed the development last week reporting that, “Nigeria has approached Standard Chartered Bank for funding of two railroad projects,” occasioned by the delays from Chinese lenders.
The uncanny development, analysts say, gives credence to the narrative that Chinese investments in Africa are not only serving Chinese interest, but also exploitative.
At the forefront of the criticism is the United States, whose government officials have consistently maintained that the Chinese is pushing an unfair investment strategy in Africa by exploiting African natural resources than spurring development in the region.
Announcing the US African policy in 2018 for instance, John Bolton, then National Security Adviser described Chinese business interest in Africa as ‘predatory,” adding that, “China uses bribes, opaque agreements, and the strategic use of loans to hold states in Africa captive to Beijing’s wishes and demands.
Such predatory actions, Bolton indicated, “are subcomponents of broader Chinese strategic initiatives, including “One Belt, One Road”, a plan to develop a series of trade route leading to and from China with the ultimate goal of advancing Chinese global dominance.”
Eleanor Albert, writing on the website of the US Council on Foreign Relations, stated that Chinese exploitation of resources in Africa has triggered fierce criticism from even Africa leaders, where Michael Suta won Zambia’s presidency some years ago in part by tapping into anti-Chinese sentiments.
Over the years, China has worked its way to become the largest economic partner in the region, deepening economic ties between sub-Saharan Africa countries and China.
Findings show that in 2009, China surpassed the USA to become Africa’s largest trade partner.
Between 2000 and 2015, Chinese banks loaned more than $94.4 billion to various African countries, according to John Hopkins School of Advanced and International Studies and China Africa Research Institute, SAIS-CARI.
Most of the funds, according to the Institute, are spent on addressing Africa’s infrastructure gap, with about 40 per cent for power projects, and another 30 per cent on modernizing transport infrastructure in the region.
The stillborn Nigerian railroad project should ordinarily fall into this latter category, but the transportation minister told Reporters last week, “we are actually waiting for the Chinese to give us the loan we applied for, and they kept delaying us.”
Keen followers of Chinese growing investments in Africa wonder what would have happened to the various pledges of funds from China; first, a $60 billion loans assistance announced by Chinese President, Xi Jinping in 2015 at an investment summit in Johannesburg, the South Africa capital with more than 30 Africa country leaders in attendance.
In 2018, at another investment summit tagged, Forum of China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Beijing, President Jinping pledged another $60 billion to African countries in loans, grants and development financing.
Although findings show that African country leaders are favorably disposed to Chinese loans, mainly due to its characteristic low interest rates, long repayment periods, but critics point out Chinese controversial business model with its attendant poor compliance to safety and environmental standards, unfair business practices, riddled with corruption as well as violation of local laws.
Writing in Quartz Africa, Feyi Fawehinwi captured Chinese presence in Africa’s economy terrain this way, “even after many decades of doing business in Africa, Chinese businesses can hardly claim to be friends with their host, they operate like ships that pass in the night and speak to each other in passing.”
To Fawehinwi, “Chinese and their hosts continue to live side by side, but far apart, and the gap between them inevitably filled by mutual suspicion.”
That suspicion may be what is playing out now as Rotimi Amechi asked, “will we wait for them forever? The answer is no.”
To avoid the rail project ending as another white elephant project, and there are a lot of them in the country, Nigeria’s federal government is sourcing fresh funds, about $3.02 billion from Standard Chartered Bank headquartered in London.
Williams is author of the book: What Africans Stand to Lose
