DMO: Nigeria has not defaulted in repaying Chinese loans

The Debt Management Office has refuted the claim by a non-governmental organization, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability, that Nigeria has defaulted in repaying its Chinese loans.

SERAP applauded the ruling that ordered the administration of President Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd) to explain how it spent $460 million that it received from China to finance the Abuja Closed-Circuit Television project that was later abandoned in a statement released yesterday.

In its statement, the non-profit organization also cited a report that stated: “Nigeria has failed to repay loans for which penalties stand at N41.31bn.”

However, DMO argued in their refutation that the assertion is “false” because Nigeria had not missed a loan payment.

It said, “Nigeria is fully committed to housing its debt obligations and has not defaulted on any of its debt service obligations,” DMO said on Monday.

According to The PUNCH, SERAP filed a lawsuit against the FG after Zainab Ahmed, the minister of finance, stated in 2019 that “Nigeria was servicing the loan” and that she had “no explanations on the status of the project.” We are servicing the loan, she allegedly said. Regarding the CCTV project’s status, I know nothing.

SERAP and Justice Nwite both agreed that “there is a reasonable cause of action against the government,” according to his ruling. The public is interested in knowing how the $460 million Chinese loan was used. The court’s decision to deny SERAP’s request for judicial review of the government’s conduct will be detrimental.

The presiding judge added that the Minister of Finance, who oversees the nation’s finances, “cannot by any stretch of the imagination be oblivious to the amount of money paid to the contractors for the Abuja CCTV contract and the money meant for the construction of the Headquarters of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB),” according to SERAP.