FG suspends $22.7b loan as Igbo group vows to sue China Exim Bank

BY OUR EDITOR

A non-governmental organisation, Igbo Board of Deputies, has issued a 14-day ultimatum to the China Exim Bank to suspend the disbursement, alternatively, cancel the approval of the $22.7 billion loan sought by Nigerian government.

This development comes as the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, in a surprise move announced Monday that the Federal Government was suspending its external borrowing plan for the $22.7 billion, already approved by an arm of the National Assembly, the Senate.

Minister Ahmed cited current realities in the global economic landscape for the suspension.

The group which said it was established to promote, defend, preserve, and prosper the cause of the Igbos worldwide, said if the Chinese bank failed to heed its demand, it would join the bank in a planned lawsuit against the Federal Government of Nigeria.

In a letter by its lawyers, Okeke Attorneys, a South African-based legal firm, the group demands that China Exim Bank should either suspend the disbursement of the loan or cancel its approval, until the Nigerian government “has revised and/or amended the manner it intends to allocate the loans so as to include projects in the South East of Nigeria, which projects shall directly benefit the Igbos.”

The letter dated 11 March 2020 and signed by Austin Okeke, was addressed to China Exim Bank’s office in Sandton, Johannesburg, South Africa, while copies were sent to the world’s major economies, financial, diplomatic and democratic institutions.

Also, in the copy, were Nigerian democratic institutions, prominent socio-cultural groups, traditional rulers and eminent citizens of Nigeria across the six geo-political spread, 72 in all.

READ: Nigeria suspends plan to borrow $22.7b

The letter cautioned the bank and urged it to ensure that as a condition, Nigerian government must tie the loan repayment to the region of Nigeria that inherits the projects, “as Nigeria flounders and threatens to break up.”

It further counselled: “In going forward, kindly ensure that all projects are valued and open-bid for, following international best practices to ensure standard quality and fair cost,” adding that, “The present Nigerian government is prone to project cost inflation, and future generations are not obligated to pay for fraudulently inflated costs.”

Where these demands are not met, Okeke told the bank in the letter that his firm had the instruction of the Igbo Board of Deputies to join it as a “Defendant party” to the planned lawsuit against the Nigerian government.

He warned: “We shall take this matter to its logical conclusion, even if it means going to the International Court of Justice “ICJ”.

“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.

“In fact, the Igbos shall not be participating in the servicing and repayment of these loans, as a matter of principle, fact and law.”

He continued: “The Igbos shall enforce this position and their resolve within the ambit of both domestic and international laws, unless and until the obligations to repay the loans are tied to the various projects in their various locations. The loan beneficiaries must pay that which they have consumed. Period.

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