Chris Ngwodo, Nigeria World.com
August 8, 2005

Responding to the recent announcement that the Paris Club cartel of creditor nations has agreed to offer Nigeria $18 billion debt relief in principle, Nigerian correspondent Chris Ngwodo contends that “even with total and unconditional debt cancellation, African countries would still be in no position to launch themselves into the orbit of first world development,” because debt relief does not recognize “the unholy trinity of transnational corporations, local despots and western governments and their satellite monetary institutions.” “We should realize that the current prominence of debt relief in international circles is driven by much more than altruism,” says Ngwodo.
Instead, he continues, “the west is in the grossly indefensible position of supporting repressive regimes that brutally suppress dissent, abuse human rights and mismanage their oil rich economies.”

Many of the loans western creditors granted such regimes, writes Ngwodo, “ended up in private pockets and back in the western banks as code numbered loot. . . . Much of those debts are odious because they were incurred by dictatorships which were  unrepresentative of the masses now groaning under the debt burden. Those dictators were supported by western governments and their multinational confederates who were interested only in the bottom line. Thus these debts are not only unsustainable, they are immoral and unjust.” According to Ngwodo, the willingness of western countries and banks to receive stolen funds is “as criminal as the original theft itself,” and this is why the debt issue, he argues, should be tied to the repatriation of Africa’s stolen wealth. Ngwodo also urges Africa to put an end to the “culture of graft that is destroying governance and impoverishing” citizens and to put “past leaders and government operatives on trial” and convict them for “economic crimes, theft and embezzlement.” Ngwodo adds that he believes such a day of reckoning is not far off for countries like Nigeria.

Full Story: http://nigeriaworld.com/articles/2005/aug/083.html [PDFver here]