The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, alongside the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, have said the country cannot be recolonised despite its mounting debts. He said the only thing the country must learn to do is to pay back it's debt as agreed with the lenders.
Amaechi also berated the National Assembly for playing dumb acting as though it wasn't part of the loan approval process.
He said, “A sovereign nation is a sovereign nation, nobody can recolonise us. We must learn to pay our debts and we are paying, and once you are paying, nobody will come and take any of your assets.”
Amaechi said the previous administration could not be blamed for the loan or clause in the agreement with the Chinese on the loans they took because it is a standard clause.
Also during the programme, Mr. Malami said: “There is a difference between international diplomatic immunity ‘which has to do with a nation’s sovereignty, independent existence’ and commercial immunity which has to do with a commitment to ensure repayment of loans.”
Meanwhile, Femi Falana who chairs the group "Alliance for Surviving COVID-19 and Beyond", a coalition of over 70 labour and civil society organisations, has vowed not to sit back and watch the Federal Government sell away the country through mindless borrowings that has in no way, improve the living conditions of the average Nigerian.
The group in a statement by Femi Falana, its Chairman, Ayuba Wabba, President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, and Quadri Olaleye, President of Trade Union Congress, therefore, demands that the Nigerian Government to make full disclosure of all loans it has obtained, or face lawsuit.
The coalition also asked the National Assembly to reveal the terms and conditions of all external loans.