Michael Olugbode in Abuja
The federal government has declared China’s decision to extend zero-tariff treatment to 100 per cent of tariff lines for African countries a potential turning point in Nigeria’s industrialisation drive, saying the policy could unlock jobs, investment and a new era of value-added exports.
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, who made the declaration, said Nigeria would work to transform the Chinese trade concession from a policy announcement into increased production, exports and actual shipments of Nigerian manufactured and value-added goods to China.
The minister spoke in a message to participants at an international seminar organised by the Centre for China Studies in Abuja at the weekend.
The seminar, themed “China’s Zero-Tariff Treatment on 100% of Tariff Lines for African Countries and its Implications for Structural Economic Transformation in Africa,” examined the opportunities and challenges presented by China’s expanded market access for African products.
Odumegwu-Ojukwu described the initiative as a major opportunity to accelerate industrialisation, create jobs and drive structural economic transformation across Africa.
She also commended the Centre for China Studies and the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China for convening the seminar, describing the zero-tariff policy as a historic development capable of shifting Africa-China relations from a traditional focus on “aid and loans” to “trade and production.”
According to the minister, the expanded market access provides African countries an opportunity to move away from exporting raw commodities and develop value-added products, including processed agricultural goods, textiles, leather products, pharmaceuticals and manufactured goods.
She said increased access to the Chinese market could attract Chinese and other foreign investments into African industrial parks, agro-processing facilities and manufacturing hubs, while strengthening regional value chains through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
For Nigeria, the minister described duty-free access to China’s market of about 1.4 billion people as a “game-changer” for agro-processing, textiles, solid minerals and manufacturing.
She said the policy aligned with Nigeria’s foreign policy priorities under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, particularly the pursuit of prosperity diplomacy.
But she warned that market access alone would not deliver economic transformation if Nigeria failed to expand its productive capacity.
“Zero tariff is meaningless if we have nothing to export,” the minister stressed.
She said Nigeria would therefore prioritise building productive capacity in areas including cocoa processing, sesame, leather, garments, pharmaceuticals and renewable energy components.
Odumegwu-Ojukwu further disclosed that the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) and other relevant agencies were prepared to work with Chinese investors to establish factories in Nigeria producing goods for export to China.
The minister identified a broad range of potential benefits from the zero-tariff arrangement, including increased export earnings, foreign exchange generation, growth of small and medium-sized enterprises, infrastructure development, job creation, poverty reduction, technology transfer and increased government revenue.
She said the initiative could also help Nigeria address its longstanding trade imbalance with China while strengthening economic ties between both countries.
However, she cautioned that zero tariffs by themselves would not guarantee industrialisation.
African countries, she said, must develop the productive capacity, reliable electricity, affordable financing, efficient logistics and infrastructure required to compete effectively in the Chinese market.
She also identified information gaps and limited access to Chinese buyers as challenges that must be addressed, alongside the need for Nigerian exporters to meet international standards.
The minister stressed the importance of maintaining effective rules of origin to prevent the trans-shipment of non-African goods through African countries to take advantage of the preferential access.
To help Nigerian exporters overcome regulatory barriers, Odumegwu-Ojukwu called for stronger technical cooperation between Nigerian and Chinese regulatory authorities.
She said Nigerian exporters must be equipped to meet Chinese requirements, particularly food safety and sanitary and phytosanitary standards.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, she said, would facilitate regulatory engagements between Nigerian agencies, including the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), and their Chinese counterparts.
On logistics and financing, the minister advocated streamlined shipping arrangements, trade finance and payment mechanisms in naira and renminbi, saying these could help reduce transaction costs for businesses.
Odumegwu-Ojukwu assured Nigerian businesses that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would continue coordinating with the NIPC, Chinese Embassy in Abuja, Nigerian diplomatic missions in China and other stakeholders to support exporters seeking to penetrate the Chinese market.
She said the ministry would work to ensure that the zero-tariff initiative moved beyond diplomatic declarations to deliver tangible increases in Nigerian production, exports and shipments of value-added products to China.
While thanking the Chinese government and people for what she described as a gesture of solidarity with Africa, the minister issued a direct challenge to Nigeria’s private sector to seize the opportunity.
She said: “To our private sector, the door to China is now fully open. The question is: what are we taking through it?”
The question, coming at a time when Nigeria is seeking to diversify its economy, increase non-oil exports and attract productive investment, places the responsibility squarely on Nigerian producers to convert preferential access to the Chinese market into factories, jobs, exports and foreign exchange.