Human traffickers in the Mediterranean used old disused fishing boats from Algerian and Tunisian fishermen. Since the soldiers of the various international military missions began to destroy these precarious boats, the "migrants boats" have come out "afloat". This is the name of the strange rubber boats made to measure for migrants that you can easily buy on the Chinese search web Alibaba. Containers full of these rafts were discovered at the interport in Malta, towards Libya. A question arises spontaneously. Ok for the inflatables, we also know the names of the Chinese factories and the places where they produce them, but the engines? For the engines it is not difficult to imagine the origin, around the corner, in Nigeria. Here because. Nigeria and China are two countries that are geographically distant but very close. For many years China has been granting onerous loans to several countries that export fossil energy sources and raw materials such as Nigeria, to ensure stable access to the resources indispensable for its economic development. But recently the world prices of oil and of the main raw materials have collapsed, creating great economic difficulties for the producer-exporting countries. Over the past 12 months, Nigerian oil export revenues have halved, making timely repayment of Chinese loans problematic. At the same time, industrial products "Made in China”Fostered by intense commercial relations invaded Nigerian markets, eliminating several local producers who could not compete with fierce Chinese competition. In a few years, China has become the main international lender of new ambitious projects for the development of Nigerian infrastructure through the granting of commercial loans to build roads, bridges, railway lines, airports, thermal power stations, the shipbuilding industry, in short, all the production sectors that a country should have have. Conversely, Western multinationals in the oil sector have reduced their investments, thanks to the fall in crude oil prices and the situation of insecurity created by the terrorist movement Boko Haram. At the same time, Nigeria has become an important customer of Chinese construction companies more than ever interested in taking advantage of the opportunities to secure lucrative contracts, in addition guaranteed by the Chinese government. Nigerian judicial authorities have also uncovered many corruption cases, linked to contracts with Chinese construction companies signed by the previous government. In short, China in Nigeria is the master and it would not be difficult to produce right there, a stone's throw from Libya, those engines that are used to start the crossing of migrants to
Europe, or Italy. Apparently now it has become more difficult to buy these inflatables on Alibaba. At an impediment, there is the solution because the stakes are high. It is necessary to sell rubber boats, engines for inflatables and especially humans. Alternative, effective, silent, and traceable solutions were found to be traded. Never heard about the BigPesa financial platform? exploits Bitcoin technology and allows online instant payments between Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda and China overcoming expensive and intermediate lenses. Through BigPesa, you can easily pay off employees, distributors and suppliers at a distance without switching to changing local dollars in dollars. Without being traced.
Then there is the Amanbooce e-commerce portal. It is a portal made for Africa, founded in 2008 by Chinese entrepreneur Liao Xuhui on Alibaba model. Liao believed in the development of online commerce when network speed in the African continent was just about 5 kb per second and even a simple email took hours to get to the destination. Today it covers deliveries in thirty African countries and sells their products in China. Il African continent has always been considered an underdeveloped place to explore and exploit, but Africa is now imposing itself as a new engine of the world economy. With an average growth of 4 BP points per year and a working-age population that will soon become the largest in the world, it represents the new frontier of development and economic opportunities. And while the West continues to question on how to renew the relationship with the various African countries, Chinese companies are already there, actors, operators aware of this rebirth, with huge investments to make Africa the new factory (low cost) of the world. Maybe they can be the solution to the phenomenon of migrants, employing in the new China of Africa The population of the black continent that would have the solution, to today's desperation, right at home.
By Pasquale Preziosa