COMMENTS.
THE POSITIVES
1.. Many are for capital projects that improve the country’s infrastructure base.
2.. Our legislature interrogated our capacity to repay these. They should have.
THE NEGATIVES
1.. It’s immoral to put clauses preventing disclosure of the terms of any public debt. It’s not a matrimonial affair. It binds everybody in the country. No government should have the power to enter into any such contract on behalf of the people.
2.. These take away the opportunity for the country to locally develop and deploy our own technology acquisition for economic and technical independence. There’s very little in these contracts that Nigeria should not be able to produce or develop on her own if she simply uses her oil exports to buy the most advanced equipment and even expertise, in purely trade basis. The Arab world does this. Why can’t we?
3.. Related to 2 above is the denial of opportunities for our universities, polytechnics, and private industry to compete for and win local content in these directions. They’re totally excluded. But this is how China itself developed the local competence. This is economic colonialism of the highest order.
OVERALL
Better these than nothing. We’re learning and improving. We must develop local capacity. Too little is happening on this.
https://punchng.com/chinese-loans-rise-by-209-under-buhari-hit-4bn/?utm_source=top-story&utm_medium=web