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.