US Raises Alarm Over Unnecessarily Debt Burden On Nigeria By China

<h4>US Raises Alarm Over Unnecessarily Debt Burden On Nigeria By China<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that the United States has said China is executing deliberate plans to perpetually put Nigeria under its control&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This was stated in the Integrated Country Strategies document by the US Department of State&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The document was originally approved on April 6&comma; 2022&comma; but was reviewed and updated on June 23&comma; 2023&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to the document&comma; China offered sub-prime financing for various infrastructure projects in the country&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Corporate Finance Institute described a subprime loan as a loan offered to individuals at an interest rate above prime&comma; who do not qualify for conventional loans&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The document reads in part&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Meanwhile&comma; China offers sub-prime financing for a range of infrastructure projects&comma; with the potential to add unnecessarily to Nigeria’s debt burden and increase Chinese influence over the Nigerian government&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Checks shows that Nigeria owed the Exim Bank of China &dollar;4&period;34bn as of March 2023&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Reports have it that in January 2022&comma; a Chinese company&comma; Chinese Civil Engineering Construction Corporation&comma; handled the majority of railway projects in Nigeria worth over &dollar;25&period;51bn &lpar;N10&period;5tn&rpar;&comma; according to the United States-based Fitch Solutions’ latest report on Nigeria’s railway system&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;thenationonlineng&period;net&sol;">The report&comma; titled &OpenCurlyQuote;Nigeria Rail&colon; Near-term focus on Northern region with long-term upside for Southern projects’&comma; said Chinese financing had enabled CCECC to handle most rail projects in the country&period;<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It reads in part&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation has dominated the railway construction sector in Nigeria&comma; supported by Chinese financing&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The breakdown of the top rail projects handled by CCECC showed that the approved Lagos-Calabar coastal railway project covering 1402km was awarded to the Chinese company for &dollar;11&period;10bn&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Also&comma; the Abuja-Itakpe-Warri rail line project with a contract value of &dollar;3&period;90bn&comma; sponsored by China Railway Construction Corporation and EXIM Bank of China&comma; was awarded to CCECC&comma; Julius Berger and Sinohydro Corporation&comma; another Chinese company&comma; alongside General Electric&period; The project is still at the planning stage&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Federal Government had sought loan facilities from Chinese lenders to implement several infrastructural projects&comma; including standard gauge rail lines&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In a document titled&comma; &OpenCurlyQuote;Status of Chinese loans as at September 30&comma; 2021’&comma; the DMO disclosed that 15 projects were funded with Chinese loans&period; Four of the 15 projects were rail-related&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The US&comma; in its Integrated Country Strategies document&comma; also faulted the political and economic system in the country&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The document reads&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Nigeria’s fundamental problem is patronage-based political and economic decision making&comma; with little to no coordination between relevant ministries&comma; and a disempowered civil service that does not sufficiently advise the Federal Government or sustain policy objectives over multiple administrations&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Political and economic elites lobby for policy decisions that favour their short-term personal interests rather than the longer-term stability and unity of the state&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;21451" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-21451" style&equals;"width&colon; 162px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-21451" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2023&sol;07&sol;China&period;png" alt&equals;"US Raises Alarm Over Unnecessarily Debt Burden On Nigeria By China" width&equals;"162" height&equals;"108" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-21451" class&equals;"wp-caption-text"><em><strong>China flag<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;