The Paris Club of creditor nations said on Thursday it had agreed to cancel about 60 percent -- some US$18 billion -- of Nigeria's foreign debt. Nigeria is home to over 17 percent of sub-Saharan Africa's 750 million people and had the biggest foreign debt on the continent.
Debt cancellation for Nigeria comes after a decision by the G8 group of the world's richest nations in June to cancel US$40 billion of debt owed by 18 other poor nations, most of them in Africa.
International development agency ActionAid welcomed the Paris Club move for "a country which has been crippled by the burden of external debt."
Campaigners
Campaigners point to countries including Uganda and Tanzania as proof debt relief leads to higher spending on health and education.
For Uganda, the first African country to benefit from debt relief in the 1990s, "even limited relief ... was enough to enable them to abolish primary school fees," says Caroline Pearce, of Britain's Jubilee Debt Campaign. After receiving debt relief, Tanzania managed to double the number of its teachers within three years, while Mozambique used debt relief to introduce a free children's immunization program, says Pearce.
"Any sort of debt relief must be a good thing for Nigeria," said Warris Alli, director of research at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs. Alli said an anti-corruption crackdown and financial reforms by President Olusegun Obasanjo have better positioned the government to make good use of the money made available by debt relief.
Nigeria was left out of debt relief negotiations in the 1980s and 1990s because it did not have an agreement with the IMF and was ruled by military dictators until 1999. Obasanjo, elected in 1999, has pursued reforms under IMF monitoring, and made debt relief a key priority in relations with wealthy nations.
In its debt relief announcement on Thursday, Paris Club members "welcomed the ambitious economic program implemented by the Nigerian authorities."
But the jury is still out on how well the money will be used in the oil-rich nation, where some 70 percent of its 130 million people live on less than US$1 a day. Nigeria was rated the sixth most corrupt nation in the world in a survey released this week by Berlin-based Transparency International. Ten of the 20 lowest-ranking nations in the survey were African.
In the country's main city of Lagos, policemen armed with assault rifles routinely set up makeshift barricades on major roads, demanding money from motorists. It is the most public face of corruption, which persists despite the push for reform.
No Guarantee
"There's no guarantee, particularly in Nigeria, that it (debt relief) will be spent on the right things," said Richard Dowden, head of the Royal African Society in London.
"As soon as Obasanjo goes, will it just slip back into old ways?" Dowden said.
Anti-debt campaigners such as Pearce believe Africa is turning the tide against corruption.
Despite the progress on debt relief, some argue that tough conditions may still make it hard for African countries to improve the lives of their people and meet the ambitious UN-backed Millennium Development Goals, which include cutting extreme poverty by half by 2015.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel
RSS