NIGERIAN OFFICIALS SIGN LOAN DOCUMENTS WRITTEN IN CHINESE, LAWMAKER CLAIMS
Nigerian government officials are signing loan documents written in the Chinese language, Mr Ben Ibakpa, a member of the House of Representatives said.
Mr Ibakpa said this on Thursday while speaking on Channels Television.
According to him, the National Assembly is not carried along when the country takes loans from China. "Even the Bureau for Public Procurement is not aware of these loans," he said.
Mr Ibaka alleged that the loans are collected through a Chinese Engineering Company in Nigeria.
"These loans are collected via the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC). They bring a bill, and the Federal executive approves the bill," Mr Ibaka, the lawmaker representing Ethiope Federal Constituency alleged.
He also alleged that Chinese loans are overpriced adding that some Nigerian officials do not critically look into the loan documents
before signing. "Some of these documents come in the Chinese language," he said.
"We are talking about over N2 trillion appropriated for debt servicing. We appropriate, and we don't know how this money is being spent."
As of 2019, Nigeria's debt profile had risen to N24.4 trillion, according to the Debt Management Office.
The DMO said 68.18 percent of the debts are domestic and funds were borrowed to finance projects, fund budget deficits and meet maturing obligations.
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