Presidents Muhammadu Buhari and Xi Jinping
For the N3 trillion Nigeria has received from China in the last
four years, every Nigerian owes China N15,000 in debt. That’s just
N3,000 short of minimum wage, Daily Trust reports.
The debt comes from two huge tranches of aid from China: $3.1
billion in 2014 and $6 billion for infrastructure in the last three
years, according to political analyst Theophilus Abbah.
Simple mathematics. Divide the combined total, just over N3
trillion, by the 198 million population Nigeria always talks about:
that’s a nice N15,000 in debt to China for every Nigerian.
And that doesn’t even include the loan agreement signed this week
in Beijing where China pledged $60 billion in credit facilities, a
quarter of it interest free.
Analysts say getting governments indebted to China is the republic’s way of outsmarting the US and the UK in Africa trade
“They are active in Liberia, Ghana, Angola,” minister of state for petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, told Bloomberg.
“They are throwing money where their mouth is and in very many
respect is one area where they have beaten both the US, European and
British in things like this.
“Africa requires a lot of development funds; China is able to
provide it. Not just provide in terms of money but provide with adequate
technology.”
The implication is Africa may be unable to resist Chinese trade and international politics.
Recently, at the World Health Assembly, the US proposed watering
down recommendations against breastmilk substitutes and threatened all
countries who opposed its stand with sanctions.
Only Russia stood up to the US and saved the recommendation.
A United States lawmaker, Rep Chris Smith, chairman of the Foreign
Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, said in a recent opinion article that
China also uses foreign aid as a “bargaining chip” in corrupt African
countries with plenty of natural resources for them to exploit.
“AidData, a research laboratory at the College of William and
Mary, argued in written testimony submitted to my committee that China
effectively buys the votes of African governments at the United Nations;
they concluded that if African countries voted with China at the UN an
extra 10 per cent of the time, they would receive an 86 per cent bump in
assistance,” the lawmaker said.
Nigeria has accepted the Chinese Yuan as a reserve currency, which will begin to compete with the US dollar.
The US lawmaker lamented that the Chinese in-road into Africa could be dangerous.
“All of these trends—rising levels of debt, shoddy
infrastructure projects, and investment that permits human rights
abusers to consolidate their influence and power—point to serious risks
for the future of the African continent.”