President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday voiced his frustrations in his efforts to get debt relief for Nigeria over the past five years even as he supports a resolution calling for a stop to further payment of foreign debts.

Speaking when he received a delegation from the House of Representatives led by its Speaker, Aminu Bello Masari, Obasanjo however called for patience as he embarks on a last round of campaigns for debt relief and cancellation from Nigeria’s creditors and development partners.

He said: “I would want to appeal to you to say that I take serious note of this motion and I am aware of your concern and I share your frustrations. I will want to appeal to you Mr. Speaker that you allow me to use the best efforts of us in government and those men and women of goodwill out there.”

Recalling his frustrations in the debt relief effort, Obasanjo who was presented with the House motion by Speaker Bello Masari said: “As you rightly observed, from the time I won the election in February 1999, I have gone round the world not once. I have met all the people that matter politically in the Group of 8 and Group of less than 8.

“Occasionally, I get good words. Then they prescribe that you must do this, you must do that and one of the things that they wanted us to do very much is to reform and as you know, we have a very deep and very comprehensive reform going on.”

Though Nigeria was now doing things differently as prescribed by the creditors, this has not transformed into debt relief, Obasanjo said.

“People say to us, you are doing what is right, we can see it. But nothing else is happening, what we have been doing wrong in the past, we are trying to do right now. Not only that Nigeria bears the burden of looking after the situation in Togo and Liberia, before the international community was ready, we were there, even in Darfur,” Obasanjo said.

He explained that Nigeria was not only being its brother’s keeper, but doing it for the role.

“We have accepted to bear the brunt in this respect, but what do we get out of it, now, when everything seems right then we hear things like how is your budget doing?,” Obasanjo said and warned the country’s creditors to take note of the mood of Nigerians on the issue of foreign debt.

He wondered why countries like India and Pakistan could qualify for almost 100 per cent debt relief while Nigeria does not qualify.

Presenting the foreign debts resolution adopted by the House on Tuesday, Speaker Bello Masari said, “the House was convinced that from 1999 to date,” your administration has established sound socio economic structures to attract cancellation of Nigeria’s huge foreign debt.”

Stressing that the House was dismayed by the refusal of our external creditors to cancel Nigeria’s debt and provide necessary economic relief, Masari said the House resolved to “call on Mr. President to cease forthwith, further external debt payment to any group of foreign creditors.”

Reuben Yunana, Daily Trust (Abuja), March 9, 2005