In response to the widespread claims that the Transportation Minister, Rotimi Amaechi, signed a contract with China that could forfeit the sovereignty of the nation, the minister has come out to debunk all such claims.
According to the Transportation Minister, Nigeria has the capability to pay back the loan within 20 years at 2.8 percent interest. Amaechi revealed that no country would grant a loan without assurance of payback.
He also affirmed that the loan agreement between both countries is referred to as a commercial contract that contains some terms which doesn’t mean the sovereignty of the country is signed off and that the contract was duly signed by the ministry of finance.
Amaechi also made sure to clarify that the loans in question were not by any means given directly to the ministry but will be used to pay the contractors directly. Read his statements below
“What you do is you give a sovereign guarantee and that guarantee is the immunity clause they are talking about.
“When we say, I give you a sovereign guarantee and we get immunity clause, the immunity clause is that, if tomorrow I am not able to pay and you come to collect the items we have agreed upon, that these are the items that am putting down as guarantee, I can waive my immunity and say no you can’t touch it am sovereign country.
“So, they are saying, if you are not able to pay, don’t stop us from taking back those items that will make us recover our funds. So, is China our father that will give us money for free?
“It is a standard clause in every agreement whether is America we signed it with, whether is Britain, any country would want to know that they can recover their money.
“Anybody that is saying he doesn’t know what a sovereign guarantee or immunity is, too bad for the person, because it simply means in trade that I am not giving you this loan free of charge.
“Just like you go to the bank to collect a loan, the moment you don’t pay they go after your assets you put down, that is all about the clause, the Chinese can never come and take over Aso rock and become President or Minister.
” And if the assets you put down become depreciated then you negotiate which assets they can go after. Chinese will never take over what was not constructed with the loan.”