Matthew Gimba, Simon Godfrey Soban, Baba Usman Yero, Thomas Itwevah Dagwala

Keywords: Belt, China, Road Initiative, sustainable, sustainable development

Abstract

China’s Belt and Road Initiative has emerged as a major global development framework aimed at enhancing infrastructure connectivity, trade integration, and economic cooperation across participating countries. In Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, the BRI has increasingly been interpreted as a potential phase-skipping or development leapfrogging strategy capable of accelerating sustainable national development by bypassing some traditional stages of industrial and infrastructural evolution. This paper examines China’s built road initiative as a phase-skipping approach for sustainable development in Nigeria, with particular attention to
infrastructure provision, industrialization, economic diversification, and long-term national development planning. The study adopts a descriptive and analytical research design and relies on secondary data sourced from policy documents, government reports, academic literature, and publications of international development institutions. The analysis is anchored on modernization and developmental state theories, which emphasize strategic state intervention, infrastructure-led growth, and technology transfer as critical drivers of development. The findings reveal
that built and road initiative-supported projects in Nigeria especially in the areas of rail transportation, road networks, port modernization, power
infrastructure, and industrial zones have contributed to improved connectivity, reduced transaction costs, and enhanced the prospects for
regional and international trade. The study also identifies key challenges that undermine the sustainability of this phase-skipping approach, including rising public debt exposure, weak local content integration, limited
technology transfer, environmental concerns, and governance and
transparency deficits in project implementation. The paper concludes that while the BRI offers Nigeria a viable pathway for accelerated and
potentially sustainable development, its success depends largely on strong
domestic institutions, coherent development planning, and effective policy coordination. The study recommends that Nigeria strategically align BRI projects with national development priorities, strengthen regulatory oversight, promote local participation and skills transfer, and ensure fiscal and environmental sustainability in order to fully harness the developmental benefits of the initiative.

Author Biography

Matthew Gimba, Simon Godfrey Soban, Baba Usman Yero, Thomas Itwevah Dagwala

Department of Political Science, College of Education, Zing, Taraba State, Nigeria 

Email: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

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