Walk into any market in Lagos, Kano, or Aba, and you will find Chinese goods on almost every shelf. Electronics, clothing, machinery, household items, and building materials. Most of it is manufactured, processed, packaged, and...
Latest Posts
The audacity of allowing free zone enclaves raid the Nigerian wallet
Nigeria’s Free Trade Zones (FTZs) have become one of the country’s favourite economic success stories. The Nigeria Export Processing Zones Authority (NEPZA) reports that the scheme has contributed about $33 billion, attracted...
The Emerging Economic Risk to Africa’s Single Market Ambition
On May 30, 2026, African trade ministers gathered to review progress under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), a landmark initiative designed to create the world’s largest free trade area by connecting more than 1.4...
The Shenzhen playbook: Why infrastructure is more important than tax holidays
When Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping designated Shenzhen as a Special Economic Zone in 1980, only a few could have predicted that the quiet fishing town with a population of roughly 30,000 people, beside bustling Hong Kong, would...
Nigeria’s largest economic opportunity may no longer be oil.
For decades, Nigeria has behaved like a country with one customer, one product, and one economic lifeline: crude oil. Whenever oil prices fall, the naira weakens, inflation rises, public debt grows, and economic confidence...
Unlocking Nigeria’s trade competitiveness through education
Human capital accounts for nearly two-thirds of global wealth, says the 2025 World Bank report. Across advanced economies, the relationship between education, skills, and trade competitiveness is both visible and measurable...
The exporter Nigeria does not count — and what it means for digital trade
Somewhere in a one-bedroom apartment in Yaba, a 26-year-old is designing a brand identity for a startup in Toronto. She invoices in dollars, delivers via email, and never has to leave Lagos. She is, by every definition, an...
Unlocking Nigeria’s mineral potential
Nigeria, with a landmass of 923,768 square kilometres, is endowed with various unique geological features, holding over 44 different minerals in more than 500 locations across the 36 states of the federation and the Federal...
AGOA Expiration: Realigning Africa For Economic Expansion
The renewal of the Africa Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA), set to expire on 30 September, 2025 is uncertain, as the United States’ securitized industrial policies now impose tariffs on imports from Africa. In a roundtable...
Can AfCFTA service trade protocol promote Africa’s industrial transformation?
Industrial development in Africa has undergone notable progress over time, transitioning from a predominantly agriculture-based structure to more diversified and industrialized economies, driven by factors such as technology...