Nigeria has emerged as the single largest beneficiary of China’s Belt and Road Initiative in 2025, following an estimated US$24.6 billion construction commitment tied to the Ogidigben Gas Revolution Industrial Park in Delta State, one of the most significant China-backed infrastructure investments recorded in Africa this year.
As of 2025, countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative collectively account for nearly 75 per cent of the world’s population and more than half of global GDP, based on aggregated membership and international economic datasets. Against this backdrop, the initiative is widely regarded as a major driver of global trade, infrastructure connectivity and economic expansion, with particularly far-reaching implications for developing economies seeking large-scale capital inflows and industrial transformation.
READ ALSO: China’s 2026 Africa Tour: People-to-People Diplomacy Stakes
This is not merely another infrastructure deal. GRIP represents a pivot from transit infrastructure to industrial value creation, from exporting raw resources to processing them at scale, and from fragmented projects to a single, capital-intensive industrial ecosystem.
GRIP is a large-scale, tax-free industrial zone in Nigeria’s Delta State, conceived as a cornerstone of the nation’s industrial strategy to transform its vast natural gas reserves into higher-value exports like fertilisers, methanol, and refined fuels, thereby reducing import reliance. The ambitious hub integrates complete infrastructure from processing to export, with significant Chinese construction involvement under the Belt and Road Initiative, marking it as an exceptional project in Africa for its scope and integrated gas-to-value ambition.
According to an analysis by Christoph Nedopil Wang, a China energy and finance expert at Griffith University, Nigeria’s GRIP-related contracts alone accounted for about $20 billion of China’s total construction activity in Africa in 2025.
Nigeria’s engagement with China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is undergoing a dramatic acceleration, with total construction commitments to the country reaching approximately $24.6 billion in 2025 and an annual inflow of around $1.8 billion in 2024, representing a roughly 13-fold year-on-year increase. This recent surge significantly expands upon the nation’s cumulative energy-sector engagement with China, which has totalled about $28 billion since 2013, underscoring a major strategic shift in infrastructure funding and development.
Globally, BRI construction contracts rose to $128.4 billion in 2025, with energy projects accounting for nearly $94 billion. Nigeria’s dominance reflects China’s evolving preference for fewer, high-value, revenue-linked projects tied to energy security and industrial output.
The historical relationship between Nigeria and China, established in 1971, remained modest for decades until it deepened in the 2000s through oil-for-infrastructure talks. Nigeria’s formal entry into the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) around 2018/2019 initially focused on connective transport and power projects, but the proposed GRIP (Ogidigben Gas Revolution Industrial Park) marks a strategic shift towards transformative, gas-based industrialisation. For Nigeria, GRIP addresses critical national goals by monetising vast gas reserves to manufacture higher-value products like fertilisers and methanol, thereby reducing import dependency, creating up to 250,000 jobs, and generating more stable export revenue to ease foreign exchange constraints.
For China, GRIP represents a strategic evolution within the BRI, moving from sovereign-funded public works to large-scale, commercially viable investments that secure energy resources, generate returns, and deepen geopolitical influence in West Africa. However, the project’s early development was severely stalled by security challenges in the Niger Delta, where community conflicts and armed groups led to investor withdrawal, exemplified by the exit of Saudi-linked partners. A decisive federal intervention in late 2022, which reconstituted project governance with joint federal and state leadership, restored credibility and paved the way for significant Chinese involvement by 2025.
In the context of Nigeria’s 2025 economy, with a nominal GDP of approximately $285 billion and growth driven by services and non-oil sectors, BRI projects like GRIP are positioned to strengthen the industrial and manufacturing base for medium-term growth rather than providing a short-term consumption boost. Compared to traditional BRI projects like railways and ports, GRIP offers direct industrial value creation, a product-export revenue model, and higher foreign exchange impact, representing a deeper, albeit riskier, economic logic focused on industrial transformation.
Despite its promise, GRIP faces substantial headwinds, including persistent security concerns in the Niger Delta, debt and transparency issues around Chinese financing, local content enforcement, regulatory consistency, and commodity price volatility. The future of Nigeria-China BRI cooperation is likely to focus on such energy and industrial megaprojects with revenue-backed investments, alongside increased scrutiny on sustainability and local value addition. If executed effectively, GRIP could catalyse a gas-driven manufacturing corridor and significant technology transfer, but its success remains a defining test of Nigeria’s ability to convert foreign partnership and capital into lasting domestic prosperity and industrial capacity.
