Toba Owojaiye reporting
Benin City, Edo State
The trade relationship between Nigeria and China reached a significant milestone, with bilateral trade hitting $15.1 billion from January to September 2024. Acting Consul-General of China, Jin Mingyu, announced this during a reception in Lagos, celebrating the docking of the first vessel on COSCO’s new route to Lekki Port. The vessel, EA Centaurus, represents a strategic breakthrough for Lekki Port in international shipping, expected to further energize Nigeria’s economic growth.
Truth Live News gathered that Mingyu posited that China’s imports from Nigeria rose by 36.1% within this period, with Lekki Port’s cargo throughput surpassing 160,000 twenty-foot equivalent units. He expressed China’s commitment to increasing the presence of unique Nigerian products in Chinese markets and expanding opportunities for collaboration.
In 2023, China-Nigeria trade had reached $22.56 billion, positioning Nigeria as China’s third-largest trading partner in Africa. The growth of trade, Mingyu explained, is largely due to the collaborative efforts of multinational enterprises that are contributing to modernizing Nigeria’s port and logistics infrastructure.
The Managing Director of Lekki Port, Du Ruagang, added that EA Centaurus’s arrival marks the start of bi-weekly calls by COSCO, ZIM, and ONE shipping lines, underscoring Lekki Port’s ambition to transform Nigeria’s maritime industry.