The Africa-China relationship may have moved from infrastructure and trade to a new frontier, but experts in Makurdi, Benue State, have identified knowledge exchange and scholarly collaboration as the next critical step if the relationship is to deliver sustainable benefits to Africans.
The experts spoke at a seminar on “Advancing Knowledge Exchange: Strategies for the Promotion and Dissemination of the Contemporary World Nigeria Magazine,” organised by the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution (IPCR), an arm of the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in collaboration with Contemporary World China. The event was held at the Unipod Hall of Rev. Fr. Moses Orshio Adasu University (MOAUM), Makurdi.
Director-General of IPCR, Dr Joseph Ochogwu, said the choice of the university was deliberate because universities provide platforms for dialogue, exchange of ideas and the development of solutions to societal challenges.
Dr. Ochogwu called for stronger collaboration in joint research, academic exchanges, technology, student mobility and cultural understanding, proposing the establishment of a centre for Chinese Studies at the university.
He also pointed to the changing global economic order, noting that China’s engagement was creating alternatives to systems that have traditionally shaped Africa’s economic relationships with the West.
But the bigger question emerging from the seminar was not whether Nigeria should engage China. It was how Nigeria can engage China from a position of knowledge, preparedness and mutual benefit.
Professor Chris Orngu of the Department of History and Strategic Studies, who was the guest speaker, argued that Africa-China relations had entered a third phase.
The first, he said, was largely political and economic; the second concentrated on infrastructure, while the emerging phase is centred on knowledge and scholarly exchange.
He said the transition was important because infrastructure could deteriorate, while knowledge could continue to generate benefits long after physical projects had disappeared.
Prof. Orngu called for increased scholarships, joint research and academic exchanges capable of enabling Africans to understand China beyond government-to-government relations. Such exchanges, he said, could equally help Chinese scholars and students understand African societies, cultures and institutions.
He cited the possibility of subjects such as Nollywood, African culture and African political systems becoming areas of serious academic study in China, just as Chinese civilisation and policy are studied in African universities.
However, the professor warned that the new knowledge partnership must not become another one-way relationship.
Language, he noted, remains a major obstacle. While African students and scholars are increasingly encouraged to learn Chinese, he questioned whether equal attention was being given to African languages and knowledge systems.
He also raised concerns about brain drain, arguing that African universities must develop the capacity to retain scholars trained through international programmes.
His solution was reciprocity.
African universities, he said, must participate actively in designing joint research programmes, integrating indigenous languages and knowledge into scholarship and ensuring that Africa and China engage each other on equal intellectual footing.
He particularly advocated collaboration in areas such as herbal medicine, where both Africa and China possess significant indigenous knowledge, as well as the creation of a dependable database on Africa-China relations under appropriate African institutional supervision.
Prof. Orngu also shifted attention from China’s role to Africa’s internal weaknesses, arguing that leadership failure, corruption and weak institutions have contributed significantly to the continent’s inability to maximise its opportunities.
He maintained that Africa’s development challenge could not be solved simply by choosing China over the West. It requires African countries to strengthen leadership, institutions, research capacity and accountability.
Professor Franc Abagen of the Department of Political Science similarly argued that China was becoming an increasingly important global power and that Africa needed to understand the country’s strategy rather than merely react to its activities.
He said China’s engagement with Africa had created opportunities in education, scholarships, technology and training, but stressed that African countries must develop the capacity to negotiate and participate effectively.
For Prof. Abagen, the challenge is not simply finding a foreign partner. It is building the African capacity to engage that partner intelligently.
That point resonated with the Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Benue State Council, Mr Bemdoo Ugber, who acknowledged the longstanding China-Nigeria relationship in education, citing experiences involving the University of Abuja and Igbinedion University.
Mr Ugber expressed hope that the relationship would expand beyond educational cooperation to include deeper cultural understanding and language development.
He also noted the absence of Chinese representatives at the session, expressing the hope that future engagements would become more reciprocal, particularly in the area of language and cultural exchange.
Mr Leo Angelo Viashima, Director -General Bureau of International Cooperation and Development (BICD), approached the relationship from the perspective of peace and development, urging Nigerians to examine the risks and long-term implications of Chinese investments.
Mr Viashima said China-Africa cooperation should not be approached with either blind acceptance or outright rejection. Rather, investments should be subjected to careful interrogation, including their long-term environmental, economic and social consequences.
The sustainability of electric vehicles and lithium batteries, for instance, should be considered alongside the immediate economic benefits of Chinese investment, he said.
His position underlined a central lesson from the seminar: Partnership requires knowledge, and knowledge requires scrutiny.
The seminar therefore offered a practical solution: Africa-China relations must evolve from a relationship in which Africa mainly receives projects to one in which Africans and Chinese jointly produce knowledge, technology, research and solutions.
And there is already a practical opportunity to begin that transition in Makurdi.
Dr Elijah Ikpanor, Director of Advancement and Linkages at MOAUM, indicated that a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the establishment of a Chinese Language Institute at the university could soon be concluded.
Such an institute could provide a foundation for deeper language and cultural understanding while preparing students and researchers to participate more effectively in China-Nigeria engagements.
But the value of such a centre will ultimately depend on how broadly its mandate is conceived. Beyond teaching Mandarin, it could become a hub for China-Africa research, translation, cultural studies, student exchange and joint academic projects.
The Contemporary World Nigeria Magazine, presented at the event by Dr Mang Chaimang, provides another platform for that transition.
The magazine, a collaborative initiative involving IPCR and Contemporary World, brings together scholars, diplomats, journalists and writers while providing opportunities for bilingual contributions in Chinese and English. Its focus includes China-Africa relations, bilateral cooperation and wider global affairs.
The publication can therefore become more than a magazine. It can serve as an intellectual bridge between Nigerian and Chinese institutions, providing space for competing perspectives, research findings and policy conversations.
At the university level, the opportunity is clear: Establish sustained China-Africa academic programmes, encourage joint research, create language and cultural studies centres, promote student and lecturer exchanges, and ensure that African scholars participate in setting the research agenda.
At the national level, Nigeria needs reliable data on Chinese investments, scholarships, technology transfers, employment, environmental impact and long-term economic outcomes.
At the continental level, African universities and institutions need to coordinate their engagement so that individual countries are not negotiating knowledge partnerships from isolated positions.
The message from Makurdi is therefore simple: Africa should not approach its relationship with China without intellectual preparation.
The next generation of Africa-China relations should be built not only with roads, railways, factories and trade agreements, but also with libraries, laboratories, research papers, scholarships, languages and ideas.
Infrastructure can connect places.
Knowledge can transform societies.
