Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, has explained why the
Federal Government of Nigeria is seeking more loans from European banks to
complete its railway infrastructures before the expiration of the current
political dispensation.
Amaechi, while fielding questions from State House
Correspondents, after the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting, regarding
recent claims that Nigeria was no longer getting loans from China for its rail
project, prompting the Nigerian government to turn its attention to Europe,
explained that delays from Chinese necessitated the move.
Although the Minister failed to give details of the loans
being sought from the European banks, he, however, said that of Kano-Maradi has
received a favourable response from one of the banks, while that of Port
Harcourt-Maiduguri is also looking positive.
His words, “It was during a press interview that I made that
comment, and I said currently, we are actually waiting for the Chinese to give
us the loan we applied for and they kept delaying us and for Christ sake,
should we wait for them forever? The answer is no.
“So, we have gone to Standard Chartered Bank, which has
approved our request. They have not done financial closure but have approved
some level of fundings for the Kano-Maradi rail project. We are also pursuing
Port Harcourt-Maiduguri with Standard Chartered Bank, these two essentially.
The Lagos-Kano part of it will come from a top financial bank or some banks in
China.”
Asked how much is being expected in total, the minister
said, “I don’t have that figure here, I have to go back to the office.”
Recall that Amaechi has been under attack on social media
after his comment that the Chinese were no longer interested in granting
Nigeria loans for its railway projects.
Recall that the National Assembly and the federal government were pitched against each other, owing to the rising debt profile as a result of borrowings from the Chinese government to facilitate the rail projects.
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