The $18 billion debt relief package granted Nigeria by the Paris Club of creditor nations may have suffered a major setback as the majority of Dutch parliamentarians have opposed moves by the club to write-off Nigeria’s debt.

According to a news report posted on the website of Business Week, officials of the second largest party in the governing conservative coalition in the Netherlands were quoted as saying that Nigeria should not be excused from repaying the $1.44 billion it owes the country. The report quoted legislator Zsolt Szabo of the Free Market Liberal Party of the Netherlands as saying that “Nigeria could re-pay its debt to the Netherlands with one week’s worth of income from oil production.”

Another legislator, Wouter Bos, was quoted as saying that the government’s funding should be spent in reducing poverty and boosting economic growth in nations that are poorer than Nigeria.

The Dutch parliamentarians opposition to Nigeria’s debt relief package came after the Netherlands’s cabinet informed the country’s parliament last week that it intends to implement the agreement which the Paris Club had signed with Nigeria.

This development comes on the heels of the revelation by the federal government that the first tranche of $6.4 billion would be paid to the club next week to offset outstanding penalties and interests due to shortfalls in the amounts expended by the federal government to service the debts in the past few years.

The Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, told news-men in Abuja upon her arrival from Paris last week Friday that all 19 member countries of the Paris Club had endorsed the debt relief deal for Nigeria by signing documents to formalise the deal as announced in June this year.

According to the agreement, which was signed last week, Nigeria would get a $9 billion debt cancellation upon paying the first tranche of N6.4 billion next week and qualify for the cancellation of another $9 billion upon the payment of the outstanding $6 billion. This means that the country would pay a total of $12.4 billion to get a debt write-off of $18 billion and be finally free from the $30 billion debt trap which has been partly responsible for slowing down the country’s developmental efforts over the years.

Meanwhile all efforts to get an official response from the Debt Management Office (DMO) have been unsuccessful as top officials could not be reached at the time of going to press.

Anas A. Galadima,  Daily Trust (Abuja), October 25, 2005