China’s Engagement with Nigeria: Opportunity or Opportunist?

Abstract

This article answers the question: Does China’s engagement with Nigeria represent an opportunity or is it an opportunist? The article employs frame analysis of 31 articles collected from Thisday and Punch newspapers and questionnaires set up with Everything Journalism group on LinkedIn, to answer the question whether China’s is an opportunity or an opportunist in Nigeria.The article identifies two dominant frames that underpin the framing of China’s engagement with Nigeria by the two newspapers; opportunity and opportunist. While opportunity frame is dominant in the newspapers’ article, respondents to the questionnaire suggest that China is not different from other emerging global powers, whose national interest is paramount in their engagements with Africa nay Nigeria.Consequently, the article argues that in its engagement with Nigeria, China is both an opportunity and an opportunist. Therefore, the article concludes that while China’s engagement with Nigeria would provide opportunities, it is the responsibility of the Nigerian authorities to ensure that what China offers, is in tandem with its national aspirations.