Combine Nigeria's vast oil reserves and the instability those riches have brought with China's avarice and rapaciousness when it comes to its thirst for oil and it seems to me that a recipe for disaster is simmering. China is prepared to loan Nigeria billions that in turn will grant the Chinese access to Nigeria's reserves and markets. The problem with this arrangement is that Nigeria's oil, which in theory should have enriched the country and helped its economy to prosper has proven to be a resource that has enriched a few at the expense of the many. China's obstinate insistence on national sovereignty (well, for others anyway) means that Nigeria will have even less motivation to reform to ensure that oil is not a curse on the country. A partnership between China and Nigeria has disaster scrawled all over it.
