Hope rises for Nigeria; G8 may forgive its 35 billion dollar debts.

Nigeria appears to be meeting the condition for debt relief spelt out by the group of eight, G8, industrialised nations to whom the debt is owed. The conditions include political and economic reforms and the fight against corruption. Nigeria owes 35 billion US dollars.

George Bush, president of the United States and the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, have said that only those nations on a path to reform should qualify for debt relief. “Nobody wants to give money to a country that is corrupt and where leaders take money and put it in their pockets,” Bush said. He wants debt relief targeted at countries committed to open governance and free markets.

President Olusegun Obasanjo has intensified the war against corruption. Top Government officials have fallen. Tafa Balogun, former inspector general of police; Fabian Osuji, former minister of education; Adolphus Wabara former senate president and Mobolaji Osomo, former housing minister, were all removed from office on allegations of corruption. All of them, except Osomo, has been charged in court.

Last week, finance ministers of the G8 at a meeting in London wiped out the debt owned by 18 poor nations of Africa to the IMF, World Bank and the Africa Development Bank, ADB. Nigeria does not belong to this group and as such could not benefit from the relief.

But Dietma Krusel, German ambassador to Nigeria and Paul Wolfowitz, World Bank president, have expressed the hope that Nigeria would soon obtain debt reprieve from it creditors. Wolfowitz said Nigeria with the highest population in Africa, a debt profile of $35 billion and the seventh exporter of oil, it did not meet the World Bank definition of low income country. He said, however, that creditor nations would hopefully come up with a deal to forgive Nigeria’s debt. “I am very positive that something serious will happen,” he said.

Krusel said the recent debt relief announced by the G8 was tied to the level of democratisation and the fight against corruption in the benefiting countries. “Corruption is the hydra that is really eating deep into the people’s welfare. So much that it needs to be taken care of for the countries to have enough funds to invest in the productive projects which are productive society,” he said.

He said three categories of countries were considered for debt relief. According to him, the first were the least developed, the second group has a sound base for industrialisation. These would be considered when the G8 meets again.

David Wyatt, British deputy high commissioner to Nigeria, said in Ibadan recently that the G8 meeting in Scotland in July would yield good results for Africa and Nigeria in the area of debt forgiveness. He maintained that Obasanjo and the minister of finance had done enough to convince the foreign creditors on the need for Nigeria to enjoy debt forgiveness, stressing that a lot of discussions were still going on in respect of the issue.

Solomon Ibharunaefe, Newswatch, June 27, 2005