China is helping develop a textile park in Nigeria. When established, the park is expected to accommodate more than 40 textile industries. Nigeria is Africa’s largest economy. Nigeria has become the biggest overseas customer of Chinese construction companies. It is an important market for Beijing, at a time when China’s own growth is slowing.

To support its swelling trade in Nigeria, China is funneling billions of dollars to build roads, rail lines, airport terminals, power plants and other desperately needed infrastructure. China is the top lender to Nigeria, where political instability and violence have made Western interests skittish.

Across this populous African nation, low-cost Chinese goods are everywhere, evidence of Beijing’s growing dominance in global trade. The trade flow has helped keep life affordable for millions of Nigerian families, at a time when the country is struggling with economic stagnation and plunging prices as well as the deadly costs of the Boko Haram insurgency.

Employment in Nigeria’s textile and apparel sector has plummeted to 20,000 people, from 6,00,000 two decades ago. Since the mid-1990s, China has become the leading exporter worldwide of manufactured textiles and clothing. And Nigeria is one of China’s major trading partners in Africa.