By Dipo Olowookere
The federal government has disclosed that it was not discussing debt forgiveness with China, which it said was willing to invest and lend more money to the country to boost the economy.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Yusuf Tuggar, said the government of President Bola Tinubu was only discussing this with leaders of the global north to assist countries in the global south, including Nigeria, which is struggling with its economy.
He disclosed that the issue of debt forgiveness was one of the items discussed at the just-concluded 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, United States.
Business Post reports that Mr Tinubu missed this year’s event, but sent his vice, Mr Kashim Shettima, to represent him. He led the country’s delegation to the global gathering.
The President called on the world’s rich nations to cancel Nigeria’s debts because the burden was stunting economic growth, making it difficult for the government to deliver dividends of democracy to the citizens.
In 2005, under the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigeria got its debts written off by the Paris Club but successive governments, including the immediate past government of former President Muhammadu Buhari, increased the debts.
As of March 2024, Nigeria’s total debts, according to the Debt Management Office (DMO), were N121.67 trillion (about $91.46 billion), with external debts at N56 trillion and domestic debts at N65 trillion.
When asked if President Tinubu begged President Xi Jinping of China to write off the country’s debts when he visited the Asian nation a few weeks ago, Mr Tuggar replied, “No, that is not what we are discussing with China.”
“China is even prepared to lend more; it is prepared to invest more in Nigeria in terms of infrastructure development and other things,” he asserted.
However, he emphasised that Nigeria is “not even among the critically indebted nations,” noting that the debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio confirms this.
“When it comes to the issue of debt, look at the debt-to-GDP ratio of Nigeria, we are not even among the critically indebted nations.
“When you talk about the debt of a developing country, Nigeria is not in that sort of precarious situation,” he declared, saying the economic crisis the country was going through was global.
“Europe is undergoing an energy crisis. The issue we have in Nigeria is global and not peculiar to us,” he stated.
