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Nigeria and China team up

September 12, 2012

Nigeria's government has announced that it will borrow a large amount of money from China to fund new infrastructure. It is the latest in a string of cheap loans Beijing has made to African countries.

https://p.dw.com/p/167S0
Traffic passes through intersecting roads in Nigeria's capital Abuja.
Image: Reuters

The deal will see a light railway built to service Nigeria's capital, Abuja, as well as four new airport terminals.

Those projects together are expected to cost around $1 billion (775.2 million euros), and will be funded through a low-interest loan from China's Export-Import Bank (Exim). One part of the new railway line, due to be finished in 2015, will link up with the international airport, while another will link regions around the capital.

The overall aim is to help those living on Abuja's fringes to come into work, Nigeria's finance minister said.

"The light rail in Abuja will improve transportation for all residents, especially the working class," Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said at the signing agreement with Exim in Beijing.

A separate $100 million (77.5m Euros) has been earmarked for projects aimed at improving Internet capability in Nigeria and giving young people better access to technology.

Tactics by China

Offering cheap loans to resource-rich countries in Africa has become a common move by China in recent years.

It's able to use these types of agreements to cement relationships with the continent, and in turn subsidize its construction industry with oil and raw materials such as uranium and copper from Africa.

jr/ipj (Reuters, AP)