I'll respond in time, but let me just add that the Chinese aren't just building infrastructure or extracting minerals from the ground - they are also doing a lot of very good business with locals.
I don't know much about other parts of Nigeria, but since I come from Nigeria and a fifth of the population of Sub-Saharan Africa is Nigerian; the situation in Nigeria must count for something.
Africa has real needs (consumer goods) - in the absence of mains electricity, Chinese built generators are very important. Quite a few local business people collaborate with Chinese partners to manufacture tires, plastics, white goods, motorcycles - you get the drift. It leads to more jobs and greater revenues on both sides.
Nobody in Africa is under any illusion about the Chinese - they don't pretend to be what they are not (unlike the US); they are mean, but they get the job done - a job that no one else (except say Indians & Lebanese who aren't any better) will do.
A few words about US and US intentions - I think US actually believes its rhetoric a bit too much. George Bush's Pepfar was laudable, but that isn't the sum total of US-Africa relationship. The major problem in this relationship is this: US has never bothered to ask what 1. African leaders or 2.The African public wants out of this relationship. It's more like a case of "here's the aid, that's all folks".
Most Americans (ordinary folk, presidents, policy makers) are yet to internalize this: most Africans DO NOT benefit from foreign aid.
So a foreign policy that is very heavy on foreign aid and foreign aid rhetoric is neither going to be useful nor very effective in the long run.
Chinese are a bit better; they actually spend time listening to African leaders. If a leader wants a dam, there might be a good reason for it - not dismissing that request out of hand like the US is wont to do and shoving an "environmentally sustainable" bull#### "solution" down his throat - and a lot of aid advisers (on gender, sustainability - and related nonsense).
Chinese don't tend to listen to African publics - but there is a large and growing relationship between Chinese and African businessmen (at least in my native Nigeria). US-Africa trade in 2013 was $85 billion, China-Africa trade was $210 billion - that points to a growing business relationship. When fracking & shale gas fully takes off - expect US-Africa trade figures to further fall.
A new airport terminal being built in one of Nigeria's growing towns - this is the kind of no fuss projects the Chinese deliver in record time - and financing is a lot cheaper.
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