The bait from Beijing By Fola Ojo

I give a streaming applause for President Muhammadu Buhari’s brawny efforts to get Nigeria out of her present economic sticky-wicket. Nigeria is in a deep ditch; and it appears to me that this President has the will to dig us out. “Where there is a will,  there is a way”, so says the Old English outlandish proverb. The Shakespearian injunction says that, “where there is a good will, there is a good way.”  It looks like Buhari has a good will. The will and the way, however, are inseparable Siamese twins. You can’t have one without the other to record successes. Now, this President is trying to show us the way.

His will and way recently took him to China, the world’s second most affluent economy.  In Beijing, the President struck some deals.  He thereafter expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the visit which he claimed yielded “additional investments in Nigeria exceeding $6bn.”  If all we have been told about the trip is anything to go by, key sectors of the Nigerian economy including power, solid minerals, agriculture, housing and rail transport will soon experience a rejig and rejuvenation.

But before we hit the floor dancing about the Chinese deal, we must strap on tight our dancing shoes lest we trip on the floor and break our spines. When dealing with the Chinese, you are dealing with some beastly bait with a possible crippling warhead. China may have no sworn enemies, but they sure have no close friends. In all negotiations and trade deals, its interest is a priority. They are princes of fine prints and stalwarts in building trade brick walls.

China’s economy is embosomed in a firewall of imperviousness and impenetrableness; and the Chinese words are not usually their bonds. Americans are probably sitting around some barbecue grills right now chatting off and wondering if Nigeria knows what she is in for with the Chinese. According to figures from China’s commerce ministry, Chinese foreign direct investment in Africa went from $392m in 2005 to $2.5bn in 2012. Since 2002, it has invested close to $100bn on the continent. China has locked in trade partnership with Africa shoving aside the United States.
At any negotiation table, this is how they play their trade scrabbles.  They come dazzling and rattling as they place their potential partners under relentlessly incandescent stage lights.  And they serve sumptuous Shrimp lo-Mein with barbecue ribs accompanied by a gallon of chilled Chinese rice wine called “Mijiu” to top up. And then they simper. Servers of the wine may be some Chinese slim fit damsels who have been programmed to lavish smiles of seduction right in your face.  And they haul big dollar figures at you that will make you feel like you are back in the days of Manna from Heaven.  Between and betwixt the hoax hospitality, and before you know it, you are shrieking and screeching: “Yes! Yes!! Yes!!!” to all Chinese offers. I am not sure if this was in the package tossed before our President and his men. Ask Buhari when next your paths cross. He doesn’t talk much; but he’ll tell the truth when he does.

Chinese are kings of cozenage and masters of trade tricks. With one hand, they shake your weak hand; and with the other, they swipe ignominiously at your ignorant face.  Don’t get in any wild excitement about a supposedly “no-strings attached” Chinese deal. The Chinese government loves nobody but the Chinese. Their focus is on local rapid economic development; and more money made through trade tricks helps the Chinese government  stem the growing discontent of their Achilles heels- rural farmers and migrants; and the rural poor. Today, these two groups are the Chinese government’s Achilles heels because it believed they can stir up a revolution.

Not too long ago, the Gabonese government dragged the Chinese investor, Addax Petroleum, to the International Chamber of Commerce’s arbitration court for etching small deceptive fine prints in the original contract between both parties. The prints blocked the Gabonese government from selling their own oilfield licence to a third party. They fell into the seductive Chinese trade- trap.  The international tribunal, however, saved the day for the Gabonese government in a 2013 favourable ruling. Their possession the Chinese could have taken.

Angola went livid when about 300,000 Chinese workers flooded the country to do the work their unemployed and poor men and women could do. When the Chinese come to your backyard, they tear off your back, ravage your yard, and then take over. They do it smiling; one hand in a shake, the other covering up the small fine prints. There is an ongoing battle now between Ghanaians and illegal Chinese miners. Ghanaians are frustrated because of the aggressive and domineering tactics of the Chinese at Ghanaian goldmines.

Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe went cap in hand to Beijing 2014 asking for a $10bn rescue from his country’s economic illness. China agreed to a $2bn loan to build a power station, coal mine and dam. The condition was that Zimbabwean future mining tax revenue will be used as collateral.  Zimbabwe was also requested to sign a commitment to use revenue from Zimbabwean state-owned companies to obtain loans from Chinese banks.

Chinese trade deals are serially and sickeningly one-sided. They are already in Nigeria extracting our raw materials and sending back finished goods that are many times unfinished. The Emir of Kano and former Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Lamido Sanusi, once called the practice “colonialism”. As he put it, “China takes from us primary goods and sells us manufactured products. This was also the essence of colonialism.”

With the Chinese, you are barred from supplying local labour. Everyone on the labour force, from the cleaner to the CEO, is brought from China. We must not forget that unemployment rate Nigeria is almost 11 per cent; and 70 per cent among the Nigerian youths.  For example, the Nigeria Police is presently recruiting for 10,000 job openings. Over 700,000 young people showed up. A good deal with the Chinese however can get some young people off the unemployment world.

The Bui Hydroelectric Dam project in Ghana is a good example how you can negotiate with the Chinese. The project cost $790m and contracted in international popular Engineering – Procuring – Constructing mode. It was jointly funded by the Government of Ghana and their Chinese counterpart to the tune of US$60m and a concessional loan of US$263.5m, as well as a buyer’s credit of US$298.5m from the Chinese Exim-Bank.   These loans are expected to be repaid in part by the supply of cocoa at the current market prices. Bui is booming for Ghana today.

What is not to like about the Chinese economic revolution? China’s electric power industry is the world’s largest electricity consumer, passing the US in 2011. And the Chinese massive infrastructure projects help keep citizens employed and could help China reach its next destination.  They definitely bring a lot to the table that Nigeria can take advantage of. If we keep our eyes open, put differently, “if we shine our eyes well well”, as Nigerians say, the Beijing deal may after all be a win-win situation.

Many Nigerians are still saying that Buhari’s “Change” is riding on a slow coach. In this dispensation of high speed technology, people want to get to their destinations faster. It seems as if the slow coach of “CHANGE” has now secured a First Class boarding pass on the Chinese speed train. Will this train take us to the Promised Land? Is this Chinese deal a pricey palliator or pokey poison?

Life does not bring you what you necessarily desire. It brings what you negotiate.  At the negotiation table with the Chinese, check the fine prints before you fall for the BAIT FROM BEIJING.  I wish the President and all Nigerians well