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Introduction
Both India and Nigeria were colonised by the British Empire that brought the two countries to share common sentimental experiences of colonisation. The political maturity of India even before 1947 qualified it to gain independence 13 years prior to Nigeria. During the period of British rule, Gupta (1979, 264) states that some five million Indians migrated to the different colonies of the British Empire, including Nigeria, mostly under the system of indentured labour. This marked the beginnings of an informal interaction between India and Nigeria. Factors such as the English language, governmental procedures and common interest in the anti-colonial struggles, that earlier began in India, (Badejo, 1989, 88) as well as contemporary common interests, have continued to bring Nigeria and India into mutual interaction and co-operation. In addition to that, with a population of 150 million and oil revenue Nigeria is India's largest economic and trading partner in Africa. Nigeria is also the largest market in Africa for Indian exports. A large number of Indian companies have made substantial investments in Nigeria. (Indian High Commission, Abuja, 2008).
Moreover, the inevitable challenges are still there. China is strengthening trade co-operation with Nigeria. China is considered a big challenge to Indian interests in Nigeria. But, India has a strong historical relationship with South Africa that may weaken recognition in the Indo-Nigeria ties despite several benefits accruing from their co-operation, also both Nigeria and South Africa are looking forward to making their mark on the continent, which of course, would lead them to take their part in world politics.
In this paper, special emphasis will be given to challenges faced by Nigeria specifically. Despite the abundance of human and natural resources in this African country, the economic development is highly shambolic and most people of the country are terribly poor. Nigeria is counted among the world's less developed. Corruption is another challenge, which has all the competent mechanisms to disturb the ties between India and Nigeria. That can more or less undermine and/or thwart completion of these missions. Both countries are dimensionally realms of terrible corruption that seems to play a key role at the governmental levels starting from Federal/Central level down to the state and local government bodies, but causes are varied. In the case of...