Sanusi asks Chinese manufacturers to consider Nigeria as N0 1

From Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja

The Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi 11, has called on Chinese manufacturers to consider Nigeria as their number one industrial base in West Africa rather than Ghana, Cotonou and other African countries.

He said he was really sad to see China coming to set up production in Africa and Nigeria not being the number one destination.

Sanusi, who made the call at the anniversary dialogue on Nigeria-China Relations at 55 organised by the Centre for China Studies in Abuja, said it was unthinkable for Chinese manufacturers to produce goods in Ghana and Cotonou and export to the Nigerian market for sale.

The 14th and 16th Emir of Kano, noted that the relationship between China and Nigeria was a work in progress, saying that there was still unfinished business.

He also said when you have an open economy and you do not protect domestic industry, goods that used to be produced in Kano are currently produced in China – from textile to fabric to shoes.

While saying that the development was good for the Chinese businesses, the Emir of Kano stated that it was not the best for the Nigerian economy.

He noted that Chinese businesses were moving textile production to places like Madagascar; coffee and leather boxes in places like Addis Ababa, saying that there was a whole leather industrial estate outside Addis Ababa where Chinese businesses are producing high quality shoes and bags for the best European brands in Addis Ababa.

Sanusi further said Nigeria needed to think strategically by engaging the Chinese side on how to move the production facility from the mainland to Nigeria.

he said: “With the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, if we are not careful as a country, the Chinese will come and set up factories in Cotonou, in Accra and be producing not for the market in Benin which is very small, but for Nigeria.

“So, the Republic of Benin and the Republic of Ghana will have all the value added; will have all the employment, the income, the taxes and we will continue to be the consumers.

“We need to make sure since we are the biggest market for the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, we need to make sure that we are the hand for manufacturing and production,” he said.

He added that in so doing, goods will be produced in Nigeria, sold in Nigeria and exported to West Africa rather than remain in Nigeria and the country’s youths unemployed, with the manufacturing sector moribund, while Nigerians continue to consume goods that they used to import from China, now from Accra and Cotonou.

“This is a message that I hope the government will think about seriously as we talk about economic diplomacy,” he added.

He also said if the government did not act decisively, it would be making a huge, strategic mistake.

He further said a few years ago, he did an analysis on the number of Chinese companies coming to West Africa and the number of companies going to Ghana were four times the number coming to Nigeria.

He noted that Nigeria is more than 50 percent of West Africa’s GDP, 70 percent of the population and now the third largest economy on the African continent.

Saying that the potentials are there, Sanusi added that economies don’t grow by accident as they have to be planned for.

He said beyond building ports, airports, roads, what the country needed more than anything else was building of power plants, factories, employing workers, producing goods in Nigeria, paying taxes and then repatriating the profit.

“That is a win-win situation,” he explained.

Also speaking, the Charge d’Affaires, Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Nigeria, Zhou Hongyou, said for 55 years, China and Nigeria have been close brothers united by deep people-to-people bonds.

Zhou also said exchanges in education, culture, youth, and media have flourished between both countries.

“Through mutual respect, equality, and dialogue among diverse civilizations, our two ancient nations have built a strong foundation of public support for the long-term, steady development of our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership,” Zhou said.

In his remarks, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, said since 1971, Nigeria and China have built a partnership that has grown in confidence and complexity.

Tuggar, who was represented by the Director, Asia and Pacific Region, Haidara Muhammed, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, also said what began as solidarity between two developing nations has matured into a strategic relationship that spans infrastructure, technology, investment, and trade.

“China stands today as one of Nigeria’s most significant partners. Nigeria, in turn, remains a vital anchor for China in Africa, a nation of scale, ambition and unyielding entrepreneurial spirit,” he said.