Rotimi Amaechi, the Minister of Transportation, announced on Wednesday that the Federal Government had repaid up to $150 million of a $2 billion Asian loan for rail development.
Amaechi said on Channels Television’s “Politics Today” program, which our correspondent watched.
Major General Muhammadu Buhari’s (retd.) administration has been chastised for borrowing billions of dollars from the Chinese government.
The minister, however, stated on Wednesday that the Buhari administration has only borrowed money for the Kaduna-Abuja and Lagos-Ibadan railways.
The minister, however, stated on Wednesday that the Buhari administration has only borrowed money for the Kaduna-Abuja and Lagos-Ibadan railways.
When asked how much of the Chinese loans the Federal Government has repaid, Amaechi said, “The right ministry to respond to that question is the Ministry of Finance; they borrow and they repay, but I think the last I heard about it, it was between a $100 million and $150 million repayment that we have done so far in the Kaduna-Abuja region.”
According to him; “Don’t forget that we’ve not borrowed any money yet, the only money we borrowed is in the Kaduna-Abuja and Lagos-Ibadan. Lagos-Ibadan, what we borrowed is about $1.5bn though it has not matured for repayment, what has matured for repayment is the Kaduna-Abuja which is being repaid.
“Nigerians think we borrow so much but the only projects we have borrowed so far is the Kaduna-Abuja where we borrowed $500m and the Lagos-Ibadan where we borrowed $1.5bn. So, that brings the total loan exposure for us in the Ministry of Transport to about $2bn as far as railway is concerned.”
The minister also said the Chinese are still in charge of the rail services on the Abuja-Kaduna and Lagos-Ibadan lines. According to him, the Chinese drive the trains and will hand over to Nigerians once major areas of operations are ticked
