Nigeria Has Not Defaulted in Loan Repayment to China—DMO

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The Debt Management Office (DMO) has described as false the reports that Nigeria has defaulted in loan repayment to China.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the agency emphasised that the federal government has always honoured its obligation, urging members of the public to disregard the news reports.

It was reported in some sections of the media (Business Post not included) that the country had missed its repayment plans for the loans it took from China and had accumulated fines worth N41.31 billion.

But the debt office refuted this, noting that Nigeria had continued to pay China and other lenders what it was asked to pay when the funds were collected.

“The attention of the Debt Management Office (DMO) has been drawn to a publication by some media houses claiming that Nigeria has defaulted in debt repayment to China for which it claimed penalties stand at N41.31 billion.

“The public is advised to ignore the publication as it is false.

“A closer look at the media publication shows that the body of the publication is completely detached from the headline, which gives the impression that the publishers of the report may have set out to mislead the public.

“The public is assured that Nigeria is fully committed to honouring its debt obligations and has not defaulted on any of its debt service obligations. The media report should, therefore, be disregarded,” the statement from the DMO said.

The administration of President Muhammadu Buhari significantly increased the country’s debt, which the debt office put at N46.25 trillion as of December 2022.

A few days ago, the World Bank said last year, Nigeria used 96.3 per cent of the revenue it generated to service the various loans it collected from various sources, including domestic and international.