Ezekwesili Calls Buhari ‘Naïve’ For Signing Chinese Loan Agreement

Former Minister of Education, Oby Ezekwesili, has condemned the recent loan agreement between China and Nigeria, describing it as naive.

Mrs. Ezekwesili was reacting to Tuesday’s signing of a loan agreement between Nigeria and China by President Muhammadu Buhari at the Forum on China-Africa, FOCAC, 2018 holding in Beijing where the Chinese government pledged to give $60 billion loan facilities to African countries, a quarter of which would be interest-free.

Ezekwesili disagrees with the move, condemning the loan agreement as a bad deal even as it is interest-free.

In her reaction which came on Twitter, Ezekwesili said Nigerian leaders are being naive in making deals with China.

She wrote: “The Chinese know exactly what they are doing. If you read their Loan Agreements with African countries, you will see how tight they cover their exposure. Meanwhile, our own leaders go there to naively, gleefully and with a huge dose of inferiority complex, sign on to bad deals.

“Chinese attitude to Indebtedness is the hardest in the world. I know, because one had to deal with it in the course of my work at the World Bank, helping African countries to get the HIPC Debt Cancellation.

“It annoys me to no end to see our countries BINGING on Chinese Loans.”