Skip to main content

$22.7bn Chinese Loan: Igbo Group Sues Nigerian Government For Sidelining S’East States

A South-East group, Igbo Board of Deputies, has filed a suit at an Abuja High Court, against the Nigerian government and China Exim Bank for depriving the five Igbo states of capital projects to be funded from a $22.7 billion loan.

The application is asking the China Exim Bank to suspend loan disbursements to the Nigerian government until an amendment is done to include the region in the projects.


This was contained in a statement made available to SaharaReporters by the plaintiffs on Wednesday.

A letter had earlier been written to the Chinese bank in Johannesburg on March 11, 2020, for its involvement in collaborating with the Nigerian government to exclude the South-East from capital projects funded by the loan.

One of the petitioners, Austin Okeke, disclosed that the group has also petitioned the Economic Community of West African States Court.

“Be pleased to note that our court action against the Government of Nigeria, China Exim Bank et al. will be coming up on December 9, 2020, at the Abuja High Court. This is in respect of the $22.7 billion loan, the proceeds of which were deliberately deprived of the five Igbo states of Nigeria,” the statement reads in part.

“On March 11, we delivered a letter of demand to China Exim Bank in Johannesburg, calling upon it to give an undertaking in the following manner.

“Suspend the loan disbursement, alternatively, cancel the approval of the loan to the Nigerian government until it has revised or amended the manner it intends to allocate the proceeds of the loan to include projects in the South East of Nigeria, which projects shall directly benefit the Igbos; and;

“As a condition, tie the loan repayment to the regions of Nigeria that inherit the projects, as Nigeria flounders and threatens to break up,” Okeke said.

He, however, urged the Chinese government to ensure transparency in its funding of capital projects in Nigeria.

“In going forward, the Chinese government must ensure that all projects are valued and open bid for, following international best practices to ensure standard quality and fair cost. The present Nigerian government is prone to project cost inflation, and future generations are not obligated to pay for fraudulently inflated prices. Failing which we shall join China Exim Bank as a Defendant party to the lawsuit against the Government of Nigeria.

“We say so because we do not guarantee the repayment of these loans by the other federating units of Nigeria in so far as the deliberate discrimination against the Igbos in Nigeria persists.

“The Igbos are not beneficiaries of the proceeds of the loan, and shall not participate in servicing and repayment of the same as a matter of principle, fact and law.

“The Igbos shall not be held liable for these loans, not now and in the future. We will not mortgage the rights and interests of our future generations for something they neither partook in nor benefited.”

Politics

News

AddThis

: 

Original Author

: 

SaharaReporters, New York

Disable advertisements

: 

from 24HRSNEWS
via 24HRSNEWS



from EDUPEDIA247https://ift.tt/33Yjkpa
via EDUPEDIA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nigerian Academy Of Science Inducts First Female President

The Nigerian Academy of Science has inducted a professor of Parasitology/Epidemiology, Ekanem Ikpi Braide, as its 19th President on Thursday. In a statement issued by Oladoyin Odubanjo, the Executive Secretary of the Academy, Braide is the Academy’s first female President in 44 years of existence. It read, “Braide was a member of the national committee that achieved the laudable feat of guinea worm eradication in Nigeria. “She has a rich professional experience as a researcher and an administrator. In July 2010, Professor Braide was honoured by the President of Nigeria with the award of Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) for her contribution to disease control in Nigeria. “She was nominated by the Honourable Minister of Health to serve in the Ministerial Expert Advisory Committee on COVID-19 Health Sector Response (MEACoC-HSR). “Professor Braide served as Vice-Chancellor, Cross River University of Technology (CRUTECH) Calabar, Nigeria (2004 to 2009) and as P...
Post a Comment
Read more

NLNG Signs Letter Of Intent On Delayed Gas Expansion Project

The Nigerian Natural Liquefied Gas LTD has signed a letter of intent for the engineering, procurement and construction of its long held up Train Seven project. In a statement released by the company on Wednesday, it said that the $10bn project will be executed by a consortium of Italian firm Saipem, Japan’s Chiyoda and South Korea’s Daewoo. The statement reads, “The project will form part of the investment of over $10bn including the upstream scope of the LNG value chain, thereby boosting the much needed Foreign Direct Investment profile of Nigeria.” Managing Director of NLNG, Tony Atta, said in 2018 that the Final Investment Decision would be made in the fourth quarter of that year. This did not however, materialize. According to the release, the project will have a four to five-year execution time after the signing of the FID. The project is expected to add an extra 8 million tons per annum of gas to the 22 mtpa currently exported by the company. Oil News AddThis :...
Post a Comment
Read more

Former Maritime Agency Boss, Buba Galadima, Accuses AMCON Of Witch-hunt After Property Takeover

  A former Director-General of the Nigeria Maritime Agency, Buba Galadima, has accused the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria of witch-hunt after the agency took possession of his business and assets on Tuesday in Abuja. Galadima, an ardent critic of President Muhammadu Buhari, claimed that he did not borrow money or have unpaid debt with Unity Bank, which lodged a complaint against him and occasioned AMCON’s move on Tuesday. The properties taken over include House No. 15, Addis Ababa Crescent, Wuse Zone 4, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and House No. 4, Bangui Street, Wuse 2, also in Abuja.  Reacting to the situation, Galadima said, “This is an attempt to disgrace and break me down. This is injustice and an attempt to humiliate me. "But I am unbreakable and they can never silence me. They sacked me and over 50 people that sleep in the apartment. "We don’t know where to go. We will remain on the streets. We will remain on the streets until God provi...
Post a Comment
Read more