African leaders must blame themselves for any consequences that accompany loan default, especially those granted by China. No sane nation throws away hard earned wealth. Even the West, with all their sugar coated grants end up squeezing the balls of beneficiaries.

Already, petitions are trailing the N22.7 billion loan obtained by the Muhammadu Buhari administration from the China-Exim Bank. A group, the Igbo Board of Deputies, has gone global, faulting the handling of the loan by the former president.

“Our grievances are based on the fact that the Igbo people have been excluded as beneficiaries of this loan yet they are expected to participate in the servicing and repayment of the same,” the group wrote.

Copies were sent to the United Nations, African Union, ECOWAS, President Bola Tinubu, World Bank and African Development Bank. Buhari spread the loan across eleven projects. Curiously, in a country of over 200 million people with six Geo-Political Zones, the South-East dominated by the Igbo, got nothing.

A breakdown shows that the North Central got 6.53 billion, followed by the North-West with 6.37 billion. The South-South Geo Political Zone was placated with N4.27 billion, the South-West received N500 million while N300 million went to the North-East. A princely sum of N5.85 billion was reserved for general use.

Part of that would have been enough to serve the neglected South-East. The Chinese cannot give out money and monitor how it is spent. What will draw consequences is inability to pay back as agreed.

In Nigeria, there have been calls to investigate how funds brought in from International bodies and partners were disbursed.

Recently, the Socio-Economics Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), a non-governmental watchdog, asked the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, to investigate the spending of $3.12 billion loaned from China.

President Xi Jiping has been magnanimous in his pursuit of living space in Africa and continues to woo various nations with policies that threaten big Western financial institutions. The result is that incentives from the Far East are often dismissed as ‘Greek Gifts’. What should bother Nigerians is that some of these loans are obtained by politicians who are not patient enough to go through the relevant documents with the eagle eye of a seasoned legal representative.

Vetting of agreements by experts is often ignored due to ulterior considerations. The Chinese have never declared themselves to be Father Christmas. African leaders often mistake loans as a bazaar and renege on documented agreements. Beijing does not condone corruption. The consequence is capital punishment.

In Uganda, money from the China-Export Import Bank obtained in 2015, was to be spent on the upgrade of the Entebbe International Airport. Since the airport, a liquid asset, could not serve as collateral for the $200 million loan, an alternative was worked out.

Part of the alternative was to channel all profit coming from operations to the bank for 20 years and if in the process there was a departure from the agreement or the Ugandans defaulted, the debtors could lose Entebbe Airport. In Zambia, the Electricity Supply Company (ZESCO) attracted Chinese interest in 2108 as part of a loan recovery move.

The Zambian National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) was not spared. In Nigeria’s case, China came out boldly in 2020 to declare that there was no plan to seize the country’s assets over debt. By the time Buhari left office in May 2023, his country was indebted to Beijing to the tune of $4.73 billion.

Tinubu arrived and has continued to borrow. By March 2024, Nigeria owed China $5.16 billion, up from $3.12 billion in March 2020. Those who think borrowing is the best way out must have a rethink. A business agreement between the Ogun State Government and Chinese company, Zhongshan Industrial Investment went sour.

That breach led to national embarrassment when Tinubu’s presidential jet was seized in France. That is a tip of the iceberg. All the loans obtained and not well utilized, will yield consequences. Neither Buhari nor Tinubu will suffer. Nigerians will have to suffer the profligacy of some of those who occupied big political offices. (New Telegraph Editorial)

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