China’s ambassador to Nigeria, Cui Jianchun (photo), spoke to the media last week to address the mounting concerns about China’s commitment to continue providing loans for Nigerian infrastructure development.
“The Chinese side can work with Nigeria for the railway [development] because now, money is a big constraint, just like in 1978, we had no money,” said the ambassador. Cui also sought to tamper widespread concerns in Nigeria that Chinese loans present a threat to the West African country’s sovereignty: “Some politicians have tried to use the new colonial system mindset to say that, ok, if I lend you money, if you cannot pay me back, you will lose your sovereignty.”
There’s growing anxiety among senior-level policymakers in Nigeria over China’s apparent newfound reluctance to fund large-scale infrastructure projects. Last week, authorities said that China had seemingly bailed on financing the AKK gas pipeline and in June Abuja said it would look elsewhere to finance two major railway projects.
