Nigeria’s Transportation Minister Chibuike Amaechi went on national television in an effort to tamp down the controversy erupting over whether Chinese loans will compromise the country’s sovereignty.
The issue surfaced last week when the Chairman of the House Committee on Treaties, Protocol and Agreements, Ossai Nicholas Ossai, asserted incorrectly that a clause preventing the waiver of “sovereign immunity” in a Chinese loan contract meant that Nigeria would compromise its national sovereignty in the event of a default. Sovereign immunity doesn’t actually mean that a country concedes its sovereignty, only that if Nigeria defaults on the loan, China can sue it for damages.
Well, that distinction was lost on large swathes of the Nigerian public, news media and political class, who now seem convinced that Minister Amaechi and other governing elites have traded the country’s sovereignty to the Chinese for these loans.
After not responding for the first few days of the crisis, Minister Amaechi took to Twitter and then appeared on TV on Friday to make his case. His top priority was to address concerns over that sovereign immunity clause. “What clause 8 says is, I expect you to pay according to those terms we have agreed, if you don’t pay, don’t throw your immunity on me when I come to collect back the guarantee that was put forward, that is all,” he explained.
It’s hard to tell if Minister Amaechi’s comments were effective in changing the narrative about the merits of these Chinese loans and the sovereign immunity issue. Many don’t seem to understand that a contract like this, just like a standard mortgage, includes standard default terms that can either lead to possession of the asset that the loan was used to build or some other mediated settlement. In Nigeria (and Africa at large) this is a highly contentious issue given the country’s history of asset seizure under British colonial rule.
Key Highlights From Transportation Minister Chibuike Amaechi’s Weekend Television Interview on Chinese Loans
MORE EXPLANATION ON THE SOVEREIGNTY CLAUSE: “When we say, I give you a sovereign guarantee and we get immunity clause, the immunity clause is that, if tomorrow I am not able to pay and you come to collect the items we have agreed upon, that these are the items that am putting down as guarantee, I can waive my immunity and say no you can’t touch it am sovereign country.
“So, they are saying, if you are not able to pay, don’t stop us from taking back those items that will make us recover our funds. So, is China our father that will give us money for free?
“It is a standard clause in every agreement whether is America we signed it with, whether is Britain, any country would want to know that they can recover their money.”
NO FREE LUNCH: “What I signed is what is called a commercial contract, which is a contract between the Federal Government and CCECC (the Chinese contractor) as a contractor, the contract between Nigeria and China is usually signed by the ministry of finance.
“Whether is the ministry of finance that signed it or the ministry of transportation, the issue is that nobody will give you loan free of charge.
“There must be an agreement and such agreement must contain some terms, that doesn’t mean that you are signing away the sovereignty of the country, no country will sign out its sovereignty.”
SUGGESTED READING AND VIEWING:
- The Guardian (Nigeria): Chinese loans: We’re not ceding sovereignty to China— Amaechi by Joke Falaju and Segun Olaniyi
- Punch: Why we take loans from China – Amaechi by Tunde Ajaja
- Plus TV: China Loan: Nigeria Will Pay Back in 20 years
