China will soon begin to import goods from Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor has said. It is expected that the move will help narrow the very wide trade gap between the two country.
Emefiele said “the federal government is talking with China so it would also be importing some of its own items from Nigeria”.
Speaking at a press conference at the World Bank headquarters in Washington, on the last day of the 2016 World Bank/IMF spring meeting, he also said part of Nigeria deal with China is that the country becomes the Asian country trading hub in West Africa.
“China has appointed South Africa as its trading hub for Remnibi transactions in the south African region, has appointed Kenya as its trading hub for east and central Africa” he said.
“And Nigeria, the mandate that we signed is for us to be appointed as the trading hub in the West African sub region. In all, we expect that it is going to be mutually beneficial.
“We are talking to China so that it would also be importing some of its own items from Nigeria, so that the trading balance can be sort of reduced.