Nigeria's Ambassador to China, Lt Gen Abdulrahman Bello Dambazau (retired), has set out practical financial priorities for deeper bilateral ties with Beijing, focusing on reliable cross-border payments, export finance and long-term investment. Speaking at the Central Bank of Nigeria's 'Strengthening the Nigeria-China Financial Corridor' roundtable in Beijing, Dambazau said financial cooperation should deliver measurable benefits for businesses and citizens in both countries. He emphasised that for businesses, financial cooperation means paying suppliers reliably, receiving export earnings promptly, securing affordable working capital and obtaining long-term finance for viable investment. The ambassador called for transactions to become easier, more transparent and more accessible.
Dambazau highlighted the importance of clear information on payment channels, transaction costs and settlement times. He stressed that stronger commercial-bank relationships, supported by effective engagement between regulators, could help resolve operational difficulties and reduce uncertainty. Payment delays, he warned, can become shipment delays, production interruptions or lost business opportunities. On local-currency settlement, he said the bilateral swap framework's value to businesses depended on access, adequate liquidity, competitive pricing and clear understanding of how the arrangements worked. He called for financial cooperation that supported Nigerian production and exports, including export finance, letters of credit, credit insurance and working capital facilities.
Chinese businesses participating in the roundtable reinforced these concerns. CIG Motors Chairman Diana Chen, whose company operates factories in Nigeria and employs Nigerian engineers, technicians and managers, described what was needed as not grand architecture but continuity, predictability and confidence that committed capital could be repatriated. She said the financial system should keep pace with Chinese businesses' evolution in Nigeria, including their need for patient capital alongside short-term trade finance. Nigerian businessman Festus Mbisiogu welcomed the opportunity to explain payment difficulties directly to CBN leadership, describing uncertainty over settlement routes and transactions delayed within banking channels.
Flutterwave CEO Olugbenga Agboola credited improvements in Nigeria's compliance infrastructure and international credibility with strengthening the environment in which Nigerian financial businesses engaged foreign counterparts, commending CBN Governor Olayemi Cardoso and his team for their policy direction. Representatives from Fincra and XTransfer focused on bringing more transactions into formal channels and using payment infrastructure to serve businesses at scale, while highlighting smaller merchants' exposure to fraud and limited capacity to manage complex payment-verification requirements. A Nigerian student extended the discussion beyond commerce, describing difficulties with tuition payments and transfers between Nigeria and China, including high charges and exposure to fraudulent intermediaries.
In response, Cardoso said the CBN delegation had come to understand and address financial difficulties businesses and Nigerians in China encountered. He described the CBN's role as catalytic, with banks central to delivering many of the services discussed, and committed the institution to following through on issues raised. The governor reaffirmed the bank's commitment to consistent policy, transparency and a functioning foreign-exchange market, while acknowledging the need for clearer communication about instruments such as the bilateral swap. Cardoso said the CBN had taken detailed notes of stakeholders' contributions, including concerns about business payments and students' transfers, to inform its work on strengthening financial connectivity between the two economies.