₦airaland Forum

The Ogidigben Gas Revolution Industrial Park (GRIP) in Delta State has emerged as the largest single recipient of construction contracts under China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2025.

This is according to a new report by Christoph Nedopil, a China energy expert at Griffith University.

The project, which is one of Nigeria’s most ambitious gas-based industrial ventures, has in the past been marred by delays, ethnic tensions, and investor uncertainty.

The deal size is estimated at approximately $24.6 billion, making it one of the largest deals embarked on by the Chinese.


The report attributes the dramatic rise in Nigeria’s construction inflows from $1.8 billion in 2024 to $24.6 billion in 2025 to a $20 billion contract awarded to China National Chemical Engineering for the GRIP project.


What the data is saying
The report positions Nigeria as the global leader in BRI construction activity in 2025, outpacing all other countries in terms of total value secured.

Nigeria’s $24.6 billion in BRI construction contracts marks a 13-fold increase over the previous year.

The Ogidigben Gas Industrial Park alone accounts for around $20 billion of that total, according to the report.

BRI construction contracts globally hit $128.4 billion in 2025, an 81% year-on-year increase, while total BRI engagement reached ~$213.5 billion across approximately 350 deals.

Energy remained a key driver of BRI activities, with global energy-related engagement reaching $93.9 billion. Fossil fuel projects dominated, although green energy initiatives also saw record figures.

Nigeria’s cumulative energy-related engagement with China now stands at an estimated $28 billion since 2013, third only to Pakistan ($41.5 billion) and Saudi Arabia ($40 billion).

This sharp uptick underscores Nigeria’s strategic importance in China’s long-term energy and infrastructure strategy across Africa and the global south.



Africa also saw a major spike in activity. BRI construction engagement across the continent surged to $61.2 billion — a 283% year-on-year increase.

Analysts link this to trade incentives and tariff structures that now make African nations more appealing for export-oriented Chinese investments than some Asian markets.

This sharp rise in Chinese infrastructure engagement stands in contrast to global FDI trends, which saw a decline in 2025. According to independent data cited in the report:

Global foreign direct investment dropped by 3% in H1 2025.

Greenfield renewable energy investments also fell sharply, from $147 billion in H1 2024 to $83 billion in H1 2025.

Africa’s non-BRI FDI declined by 42%, making the surge in BRI construction even more significant.

In this landscape, Nigeria’s breakthrough with Ogidigben gives it a rare advantage, a leading position in what may be the world’s last wave of mega-scale infrastructure expansion driven by Chinese capital.

In January 2025, a delegation from China National Chemical Engineering International Corporation Ltd (CNCEC) announced its commitment to support the $20 billion Ogidigben Gas Project in Delta State, marking a significant milestone in the bilateral economic ties between the two nations.

Li Zhenyi, President of CNCEC, revealed the company’s readiness to engage in the project through restructured funding and strategic partnerships with Nigerian stakeholders.

“Our company is devoted to contributing to Nigeria’s industrialization and economic growth,” Zhenyi affirmed, reiterating CNCEC’s broader commitment to supporting Nigerian President Bola Tinubu’s vision for national development.

Several setbacks

Despite the renewed momentum, the Ogidigben project has a complicated history marked by delays, ethnic tensions, and investor uncertainty.

The project’s location has been affected by long-standing tensions between Ijaw and Itsekiri communities, which disrupted site access and investor confidence.

During President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, militant groups allegedly demanded $30 million to allow groundbreaking activities, forcing a large payoff before federal officials could proceed.

Following these security concerns, initial Saudi investors pulled out of the project, citing the influence of local warlords and unstable conditions. Some stakeholders had also labelled the project a “fraud.”

In October 2022, the Federal Government took steps to revive the stalled initiative by reconstituting a Steering Committee and Technical Working Group.

The new committees, co-chaired by the then Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and the Governor of Delta State, were tasked with resolving bottlenecks and restoring investor confidence.

That intervention appears to have laid the groundwork for the massive Chinese involvement announced in the latest BRI report.

What you should know

The Ogidigben Gas Industrial Park remains one of the most ambitious industrialisation efforts ever undertaken in Nigeria’s energy sector.

Located on 2,700 hectares, the park is designed to host gas-based industries, including fertilizer, methanol, petrochemical, and aluminium plants.

The project was conceived as a tax-free zone under a Public-Private Partnership framework and is expected to create approximately 250,000 direct and indirect jobs.

It is strategically situated about 60km from Warri and just 1km from Chevron Nigeria’s operational base, giving it access to over 18 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves in fields such as Odidi, Okan, and Forcados.


The facility will also be connected to Nigeria’s dominant gas transport network, the Escravos–Lagos Pipeline System (ELPS), to ensure reliable supply and distribution of gas.


If fully implemented, the GRIP project could become a cornerstone of Nigeria’s gas monetisation strategy and a key driver of industrial development and job creation in the Niger Delta.

omoredia:
China is Nigerian new colonial masters. People that lack wise leaders will always be slaves

omoredia:
China is Nigerian new colonial masters. People that lack wise leaders will always be slaves

helinues:
Nice one. Delta state governor is silently attracting investors to the state

Moroccoguy:
Part of Tinubu waka waka results.

omoredia:
China is Nigerian new colonial masters. People that lack wise leaders will always be slaves

helinues:
In short, you are sad about this development news right?

Any development news not in your region must be undermine, questioned as that's typical attitude from you people

omoredia:
China is Nigerian new colonial masters. People that lack wise leaders will always be slaves

omoredia:
Haha nobody will develop u. Do u see Nigerians developing China? U dont get it

omoredia:
China is Nigerian new colonial masters. People that lack wise leaders will always be slaves

EponObi:
They never disappoint.

If it's a news about Trump calling the nation a shit0, they will cheer. Or if it's one about Trump kidnapping Venezuela, stealing their oil, and threatening to takeover Greenland, they will go on victory dance and pray Trump does the same to Nigeria.

But they want to be president of this same Nigeria.

I hope Nigerians are critically observing. They must never get to the center.

Their actual desire for the country captured in JPEG: 👇

temitope27:
Try invest then, so that we won't be slave to foreigner 😏

betabread:
As China is learning from the Maduro kidnap incident in vanezuela, I hope our leaders too are learning.... While we the masses smite each other with hate and tribalism, our leaders too should continue their stupidity and keep putting square pegs in round holes ....... When breeze blow, na as them kidnap maduro , that's how they will kidnap the Nigerian president then they will say its Chinese equipment.........its the same Chinese equipment that the Iranians started operating albeit late that made Netenyahu call for a cease fire in the 12 days war

FreeStuffsNG:
China names $24.5billion Ogidigben Gas Park top BRI recipient in 2025



https://nairametrics.com/2026/01/18/china-names-24-5billion-ogidigben-gas-park-top-bri-recipient-in-2025/

Mynd44 nlfpmod

Kemetian:
All they're doing is ensuring that no one trusts them enough to hand over the nation to them to rule.

You can't hate and scorn our progress and then claim you want to rule us.

How do we know you won't engineer the break-up of the country?

helinues:
Nice one. Delta state governor is silently attracting investors to the state

omoredia:
China is Nigerian new colonial masters. People that lack wise leaders will always be slaves

helinues:
Nice one. Delta state governor is silently attracting investors to the state