At present, Nigeria is China's largest project contracting market, largest export market, second largest trading partner and major investment destination in Africa. The two countries have close cooperation in various fields. The elements of China Nigeria cooperation can be seen everywhere in the Lekki Free Trade Zone, which is considered as a new power source of Nigeria's economy.
Lekki Free Trade Zone is located in the Lekki region about 60km east of Lagos, Nigeria's largest city and economic center. It is planned to have four blocks with a total area of 165km2, of which the southwest block is planned to be 30km2, which is operated and managed by the Lekki Free Trade Zone Development Company led by Chinese enterprises. At present, 76 enterprises have signed investment agreements with the Southwest Block Park, and 57 enterprises have been completed or are under construction.
Crowley Cosmetics Laiji Free Trade Zone Co., Ltd. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Daily Chemical Products Group, which mainly produces toothpaste and other daily chemical products. A large number of local employees in health protection uniforms are busy at different posts in the modern plant of the company every day. Ao Tianjiao, the person in charge of the filling and packaging workshop of the company, told the reporter: "We have four production lines, and the current work is a two shift system. The local employees work in a shift of 85. At present, the daily production capacity is 300000 (toothpaste). In the future, we will have more than 130 people in a shift at most, 270 people in two shifts together, and more than 500 people in the whole factory at most." Mary Mangi, a Nigerian, is the assistant quality control manager of the company. She said: "We have physical and chemical laboratories, microbiological laboratories, and packaging materials laboratories. We test raw materials and packaging materials. So far, everything has gone well. Our main task is to ensure quality compliance."
In a standard factory building with an area of more than 10,000 square meters in a carton factory in Laiji Free Trade Zone, local workers are either busy on a modern production line made in China or packing finished products for warehousing. Janet Reddy, an administrator from India, said to the reporter: "Now the factory is running well, and there is good communication between various departments. We are a happy team. These machines and equipment are very good, all made in China. The management of the park is also very good. More and more industries choose to come here, and I hope it will become better and better." In the southeast block of Lekki Free Trade Zone, Dangote Refinery, which has the largest single unit in the world and a cumulative investment of 19 billion US dollars, is under construction with a daily processing capacity of 650000 barrels of crude oil. The civil engineering and installation of the plant are undertaken by Chinese companies, and the project is nearing the end. According to Li Guobiao, the equipment installation project manager, since the commencement of the project, It has trained tens of thousands of local technical workers: "At present, the overall construction progress has reached 97%. Since the commencement of the project, more than ten thousand local skilled workers have been trained, and a large number of engineering and technical talents have been trained for similar projects in Nigeria. At present, there are more than 5000 people on site. The Bangalans, Pakistanis, Indians, Koreans, Chinese and Nigerians have participated in the project, which has truly realized the internationalization of talents and the cost of work The concept of localization is also the biggest advantage of the whole project at present. "
On the coast of the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean, a few kilometers away from the Dangote Refinery under construction, the first deep-water port in Nigeria - Lekki Port Phase I project, which was invested, constructed and operated by Chinese enterprises, was completed on October 31. Lekki Port is also one of the largest deep-water ports in West Africa, with an annual design handling capacity of 1.2 million TEUs, which will provide direct and indirect employment opportunities for about 170000 local people. The governor of Lagos state, Babajed Sanguru, said that Lekki Port will make Lagos a maritime logistics center in Central and West Africa, which will effectively release Nigeria's economic potential and increase the income of local people. He said: "China Harbour has completed the construction of Lekki Port on time and with high quality. This is the most modern deep-water port construction project I have ever seen, and it is also a landmark project in Lagos. We are very proud of it. At the same time, the project has also brought us investment."
