Nigeria: The Debate Over Relinquishing Sovereignty by Victor Oladokun

The Nigerian Minister of #Transportation, Rotimi Amechi, has been in the news recently. He says he has only just become aware of a clause in a $5 billion rail project to be built by #China, that requires the  relinquishing of sovereignty in the event of a loan default.

With all due respect, this is a red herring. #Nigeria should not and must not relinquish an iota of its sovereignty. There are other ways of financing infrastructure #development, including direct foreign investment, private sector partnerships, bonds, the utilisation of a portion of the country’s sovereign wealth fund, and concessionary loans from institutions such as the #AfricanDevelopmentBank

This is not about China. Rather, it is about smart investing and the imperative of not discounting Nigeria’s development against future generations.

I hope someone is listening.