NIGERIA’S debt to China rose to N7.6 trillion ($5.334 billion) in June 2025 from N6.73 trillion ($4.726.72) reported in the same period of 2023, one month after the swearing in of President Bola Tinubu.
In other words, Nigeria’s debt to the world’s second biggest economy rose by N865.224 billion ($607.96 million) in two years, according to data from the Debt Management Office (DMO), seen by Economy Post.
The debt stock, however, did not cover the loans taken in the latter part of 2025. In late 2025, the Nigerian government went into advanced talks with China’s Export-Import Bank for a $2 billion loan to construct a new electricity super grid to address Nigeria’s long-standing power supply challenges.
According to Minister of Power, Mr Adebayo Adelabu, “It’s part of plans to decentralise power generation in Nigeria and get the heavy commercial users that left the power grid because of its unreliability to return.”
Lagos-Kano train service
Bloomberg reported that the minister’s team confirmed that negotiations with China’s Exim Bank were progressing, while the financing for the super grid had already received cabinet approval. The loan was likely to have been extended to the Nigerian government by December 2025.
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China is Nigeria’s critical partner, especially in infrastructure, including roads and railways, and has provided cheap, single-digit loans to Nigeria and several nations in Africa. The loans to Nigeria were extended mainly through the state-run Export-Import Bank of China and the China Development Bank.
China has a strong foothold on Nigeria, particularly in infrastructure. In May 2018, the Nigerian government awarded a $6.68 billion contract to China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) to construct a railway linking the economic capital Lagos to Kano.
“The signing of the Ibadan-Kaduna segment agreement concludes all outstanding contract of the Lagos-Kano rail line,” said Nigeria’s then Transport Minister, Mr Chibuike Amaechi. In October 2019, the Nigerian government awarded a $3.9 billion public-private partnership contract for the new Abuja-Itakpe-Lokoja rail line to CCECC.
In September 2020, the Nigerian government also approved the contract of about $1.96 billion for the development of the proposed Kano-Jigawa-Katsina-Jibia to Maradi rail line in Niger Republic. The contract was meant to connect at least seven cities in Nigeria, starting from Kano and passing through Dambatta, Kazaure, Daura, Mashi, Katsina, Jibia and terminate in Maradi, Niger Republic.
In May 2021, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) got the contract for Nigeria’s $3.02 billion Eastern Railway contract. The CCECC, a subsidiary of China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC), had signed a contract with Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Transportation for the development of the Nigerian Eastern Railway. This eastern railway network was supposed to pass through 12 states and connect several important cities in the South-East and South-South regions.
The projects are not only railway related but also extend to roads. In July 2020, The Kano State government terminated the contract for construction of the Dawakin-Tofa 5km dual carriage road andre-awarded it to CCECC Nigeria Limited.
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In October 2024, Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue State awarded the contract for the rehabilitation of the deplorable Awajir-Oju road to China Gezhouba Group International Engineering Limited.
China has a footptint on the Nigerian energy sector. In October 2025, Nigeria signed a landmark agreement with China’s LONGi, the world’s largest solar panel manufacturer, to establish a 1,000-megawatt-capacity solar panel production factory in the country.
In August 2025, the Delta State Government awarded the reconstruction of a critical section of the Warri/Sapele/Benin Road to the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC). The reconstruction, estimated at N35 billion, spanned 10 kilometres – five kilometres on each carriageway – with an expanded width of 11.6 metres, including 2.8-metre shoulders.
However, the projects also extend to other sectors. In April 2025, the Federal Government signed a $328.8 million contract with Chinese firm, China Machinery Engineering Corporation, to rehabilitate and expand Nigeria’s electricity transmission network under Phase 1 of the Presidential Power Initiative.
