konga Ad Campaign konga Ad Campaign konga Ad Campaign
ADVERTISEMENT
  • The Membership Club
  • #EndSARS Dashboard
  • PT Hausa
  • About Us
  • Advert Rates
  • Careers
  • Contact Us
Wednesday, June 29, 2022
Premium Times Nigeria
  • Home
  • Gender
  • News
    • Headline Stories
    • Top News
    • More News
    • Foreign
  • Investigations
  • Business
    • News Reports
    • Financial Inclusion
    • Analysis and Data
    • Business Specials
    • Opinion
    • Oil/Gas Reports
      • FAAC Reports
      • Revenue
  • Opinion
  • Health
    • News Reports
    • Special Reports and Investigations
      • Health Specials
    • Features and Interviews
    • Multimedia
    • Primary Health Tracker
  • Agriculture
    • News Report
    • Special Reports/Investigations
    • Features and Interviews
    • Multimedia
  • Arts/Life
    • Arts/Books
    • Kannywood
    • Lifestyle
    • Music
    • Nollywood
    • Travel
  • Sports
    • Football
    • More Sports News
    • Sports Features
  • Projects
    • #EndSARS Dashboard
    • Parliament Watch
    • Panama Papers
    • Paradise Papers
    • AGAHRIN
  • #PandoraPapers
  • AUN-PT Data Hub
  • Home
  • Gender
  • News
    • Headline Stories
    • Top News
    • More News
    • Foreign
  • Investigations
  • Business
    • News Reports
    • Financial Inclusion
    • Analysis and Data
    • Business Specials
    • Opinion
    • Oil/Gas Reports
      • FAAC Reports
      • Revenue
  • Opinion
  • Health
    • News Reports
    • Special Reports and Investigations
      • Health Specials
    • Features and Interviews
    • Multimedia
    • Primary Health Tracker
  • Agriculture
    • News Report
    • Special Reports/Investigations
    • Features and Interviews
    • Multimedia
  • Arts/Life
    • Arts/Books
    • Kannywood
    • Lifestyle
    • Music
    • Nollywood
    • Travel
  • Sports
    • Football
    • More Sports News
    • Sports Features
  • Projects
    • #EndSARS Dashboard
    • Parliament Watch
    • Panama Papers
    • Paradise Papers
    • AGAHRIN
  • #PandoraPapers
  • AUN-PT Data Hub
Premium Times Nigeria
BUA Group Ad BUA Group Ad BUA Group Ad
ADVERTISEMENT
China Premier and Buhari,

China Premier and Buhari.

EXCLUSIVE: Inside China’s $6.5 billion loans to Nigeria since 2002

byTaiwo-Hassan Adebayo
November 1, 2019
3 min read

The EXIM Bank of China is Nigeria’s biggest bilateral creditor in nearly 2 decades, having lent the African largest economy $6.5 billion (or N1.9 trillion) since 2002, analysis of official disclosures exclusively obtained by PREMIUM TIMES has shown.

Based on separate Freedom of Information replies by the finance ministry and the Debt Management Office, DMO, our analysis showed Nigeria has obtained 17 Chinese loans to fund projects across sectors since 2002.

Transportation and ICT sectors have six projects each financed by loans from the Chinese bank, while energy, agriculture and water sectors, respectively, have three and two projects tied to Chinese loans.

The first Chinese loan to Nigeria was agreed on March 27, 2002: $114.89 million each for constructing two 335 MW gas power plants, namely Omotosho and Papalanto (Olorunshogo) in Ondo and Ogun State, respectively. Both plants were completed in 2007. The loan was obtained at six per cent interest rate. The loan covered 65 per cent of the costs of the project, while Nigeria then covered the 35 per cent balance.

Fullscreen capture 1112019 84610 AM.bmp

Four months after, two other loans totalling $159.83 million for rural telephony were offered at a 3.5 per cent interest rate. Then from 2006 to September 2018, the country obtained 13 more loans, at between 2.50 per cent and 3 per cent interest rates. The last loan obtained by the government from China was $328 million used for the National ICT Infrastructure Backbone II Project.

Loans for opaque and controversial projects

A PREMIUM TIMES’ review of the projects for which the loans are obtained revealed that they range from opaque to controversial. For instance, the loans were obtained for the provision of public security/communication system (more commonly known as CCTV project), 40 parboiled rice processing plants, and for infrastructural projects like the ongoing Lagos-Ibadan railway and the upgrade of the Abuja-Keffi-Makurdi road.

Fullscreen capture 1112019 84638 AM.bmp

The agreement for the $399.50 million loan for the public security communication project handled by ZTE was reached on December 12, 2010, with a 19-year tenor at 2.50% interest rate. Nigeria’s federal legislature has repeatedly queried the delivery of the project, whose major component – surveillance videos in Lagos and Abuja – has barely ever worked. Yet, the country will continue to service the loan until September 2030, the maturity date.

The rice processing plants project was backed with $325.67 million loan agreed on April 26, 2016, according to the DMO in its disclosure dated July 18. But in another disclosure, on October 8, by the ministry of finance, it was excluded. PREMIUM TIMES could not find further public information about the loan.

Fullscreen capture 1112019 84705 AM.bmp

In their FOI disclosures, both the DMO and the ministry of finance withheld details of outstanding debts or the sums Nigeria has since repaid.

Nigeria’s current external debt stock amounts to $27 billion, the DMO stated on its website.

If no further loan is taken from China, Nigeria would still be serving the Asian power’s loans till around 2038, the maturity date for the last loans obtained in 2018.

But Nigeria is hoping the EXIM Bank of China will approve a new $5 billion loan to finance the 3,050 MW Mambilla hydropower project. The Mambilla project in Taraba State, northeastern Nigeria, is one of Africa’s biggest dam projects but it has been stalled for over 40 years.

Debt conundrum

Already, a quarter of Nigeria’s N10.3 trillion (proposed) 2020 budget, that is N2.5 trillion, goes to debt servicing. The budget is still being considered by federal lawmakers.

Chinese loans are disbursed by the EXIM Bank, with interest subsidised by the country’s ministry of commerce, which assigns (Chinese) contractors to execute projects tied to the loans. This chain barely allows cash to get into the hands of the recipients; rather, the loans are offered in the form of projects

Between 2000 and 2017, China extended African countries $143 billion loans, and Angola is the top recipient with approximately $43 billion received since 2002, according to the China Africa Research Initiative at the John Hopkins University in the United States.

Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa, Sudan, DR Congo and Egypt, among others, are other African big borrowers from China.

Since the turn of the century, China has increasingly had expansive presence in Africa as a donor and trade partner. Although the United States remains Africa’s biggest donor, China is threateningly rivalling the traditional Western donors in the latter’s historically cultivated sphere of influence, that is, Africa.

The popularity of China among Africa leaders, analysts say, is due to its approach to aid. Its loans are mostly non-conditional and without interference. They also have a low-interest rate and sometimes, natural resources are used for repayment, for instance in Angola.

By not attaching human rights, environmental and governance requirements to its aids, critics say China is worsening authoritarianism in Africa. Others also criticise Chinese aids and loans for their opacity and poor standard. Some also say China underprices Africa resources and are steep in labour abuses in the continent.

But pro-China analysts say using resources to repay loans helps cover critical infrastructural deficits in the continent. They say China’s involvement in Africa offers a “win-win” situation – trading abundant resources for rollback infrastructural deficit.

In the case of Nigeria, natural resources are not used to repay loans.

“No, we are using our own money to repay the loans, unlike other countries,” one official said, seeking anonymity.

READ ALSO: Global Investigation: Pangolins: Trafficked to Extinction

Under late President Umaru Yar’Adua, China once unsuccessfully approached Nigeria with $50 billion crude oil-backed loans to finance various infrastructural projects, including oil refineries, according to former presidential spokesperson Segun Adeniyi, in his book on the Yar’Adua administration, Power, Politics and Death.

But this may not be the case for long as repaying loans with natural resources such as crude oil is increasingly being considered, the official said.

  • WhatsApp
  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Print
  • Telegram
  • More
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Pocket


CITIZEN-FM AD


Support PREMIUM TIMES' journalism of integrity and credibility

Good journalism costs a lot of money. Yet only good journalism can ensure the possibility of a good society, an accountable democracy, and a transparent government.

For continued free access to the best investigative journalism in the country we ask you to consider making a modest support to this noble endeavour.

By contributing to PREMIUM TIMES, you are helping to sustain a journalism of relevance and ensuring it remains free and available to all.

Donate


TEXT AD: Call Willie - +2348098788999






PT Mag Campaign AD

Previous Post

Nigerians jailed for over 20 years say they were wrongfully detained, convicted

Next Post

Despite new law, Nigerians living with disabilities lament discrimination

Taiwo-Hassan Adebayo

Taiwo-Hassan Adebayo

More News

Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun [PHOTO CREDIT: @dabiodunMFR]

Strike: Ogun governor meets workers

June 29, 2022
International Press Institute

Press freedom groups condemn arrest of Bauchi journalists

June 29, 2022
Cooking-gas-cylinders

Why price of cooking gas increased across Nigeria – Marketers

June 29, 2022
PDP National Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu

2023 General Elections: PDP urges UN to guard against manipulation

June 29, 2022
Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu

Alleged Organ Harvesting: Senate mum on Ekweremadu’s ordeal

June 29, 2022
Nigeria Police Force

Insecurity: Nigerian police give 15 tips on how to stay safe

June 28, 2022
Next Post
Persons with disabilities used to tell the story. [PHOTO CREDIT: Ventures Africa] rights

Despite new law, Nigerians living with disabilities lament discrimination

Petrol tankers[Photo Credit:News Nigeria]

Anambra bans movement of fuel tankers during daytime

Read All Comment

Search

AUN-PT Ad




Access Bank Ad







Subscribe to News via Email

Enter your email address and receive notifications of news by email.

Join 1,899,064 other subscribers.

Advertisement




netherland biz school Advert



ADVERTISEMENT

Our Digital Network

  • PT Hausa
  • Election Centre
  • Human Trafficking Investigation
  • Centre for Investigative Journalism
  • National Conference
  • Press Attack Tracker
  • PT Academy
  • Dubawa
  • LeaksNG
  • Campus Reporter

Resources

  • Oil & Gas Facts
  • List of Universities in Nigeria
  • LIST: Federal Unity Colleges in Nigeria
  • NYSC Orientation Camps in Nigeria
  • Nigeria’s Federal/States’ Budgets since 2005
  • Malabu Scandal Thread
  • World Cup 2018
  • Panama Papers Game
  • Our Digital Network
  • About Us
  • Resources
  • Projects
  • Data & Infographics
  • DONATE

All content is Copyrighted © 2020 The Premium Times, Nigeria

No Result
View All Result
  • #PandoraPapers
  • Gender
  • News
    • Headline Stories
    • Top News
    • More News
    • Foreign
  • Investigations
  • Business
    • News Reports
    • Financial Inclusion
    • Analysis and Data
    • Business Specials
    • Opinion
    • Oil/Gas Reports
      • FAAC Reports
      • Revenue
  • Health
    • COVID-19
    • News Reports
    • Investigations
    • Data and Infographics
    • Health Specials
    • Features
    • Events
    • Primary Health Tracker
  • Agriculture
    • News Report
    • Research & Innovation
    • Data & Infographics
    • Special Reports/Investigations
    • Investigations
    • Interviews
    • Multimedia
  • Arts/Life
    • Arts/Books
    • Kannywood
    • Lifestyle
    • Music
    • Nollywood
    • Travel
  • Sports
    • Football
    • More Sports News
    • Sports Features
  • #EndSARS Dashboard
  • Projects
    • Panama Papers
    • Paradise Papers
    • Parliament Watch
    • AGAHRIN
  • AUN-PT Data Hub
  • Opinion
  • The Membership Club
  • DONATE
  • About Us
  • Advert Rates
  • PT Hausa
  • Dubawa NG
  • Careers
  • Contact Us
  • Digital Store

All content is Copyrighted © 2020 The Premium Times, Nigeria

Our website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.