Nigeria’s minister for transport, Rotimi Amaechi has reacted to reports that the country’s sovereignty has been ceded to china over $500 million loan.
Last week, a committee set up by Nigeria’s house of representatives to probe the Ministry of Transport’s loans for rail projects across the country disclosed that a clause in one of the loan documents ceded Nigeria’s sovereignty to China should the loan be defaulted.
In an interview on Channels Television on Tuesday evening, Amaechi remained adamant that there was ‘nothing’ wrong in Nigeria ceding its sovereignty to China, adding that terms of the loan agreements were grossly misunderstood. In his words;
“What is wrong with Nigeria ceding its sovereignty to China? I repeat it here, the sovereignty you are ceding is not the sovereignty that makes you a nation, that remains completely with you”.
“Just like our normal banks will ask for your collateral before they give you loan, this country is saying we are not Nigerians, we are not your father, so if we are going to give you $500 million, we want you to waive the immunity that will stop us from taking you to arbitration if you default because you see, China will not walk into Nigeria and take your property, China will first go to arbitration and arbitration will see how to get Nigeria to pay the money.”
“If we are not able to resolve that then they will reach a decision to attach a particular property for which the Chinese will recover their money from”.
