International Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities Reviews Vol.7 No.2, August 2017; p.127 – 135, (ISSN: 2276-8645) THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF NIGERIA – CHINA BILATERAL RELATIONS NWACHUKWU, LAMBERT CHIDI, PhD Department of Public Administration, Faculty of Management and Social Sciences, Madonna University, Nigeria, Okija Campus. E-mail:
[email protected] Phone: +234(0)8033618400 ABSTRACT This paper interrogated Nigeria – China bilateral relations. China’s relation with Nigeria has recently become a burning issue. This has to do with China’s seemingly interest or quest to dominate the Nigerian market and economy. Accordingly, scholars and commentators alike have expressed various opinions on the issue without any meaningful conclusions. While some view the relationship as beneficial to China and detrimental to the overall development of Nigeria, others see it as the spring post or opportunity that Nigeria needs to develop and compete in the world market. This study which adopted the political economy approach as its theoretical framework made a meaningful contribution to this all important issue. The paper adopted the secondary sources of data collection from textbooks, journals, newspapers, magazines, government publications, internet materials, and other relevant works related to the study. The study revealed that Nigeria – China bilateral relations have benefited China more than Nigeria and that the engagement is booming but at the expense of the Nigerian state. Overall, Chinese engagement with Nigeria is better for the Chinese than it is for Nigeria. This according to the study is evident in the fact that the balance of trade has remained in favour of China beginning from the era of informal ties till date.