Loan Agreement Clause Waiving Nigeria’s Sovereignty Immunity totally Ridiculous

It is no longer a secret to Nigerians, the highly ridiculous loan agreements with a clause that waives the sovereign immunity of our dear country if it defaults in its repayment plan. 

This is coming out as the House of Representatives last week summoned the Minister of Transportation, Hon. Rotimi Amaechi; Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed; and Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Alhaji Isa Pantami; over a loan agreement with China, which contained the waiver clause.

According to the House, Article 8(1) of the commercial loan agreement signed between Nigeria and Export-Import Bank of China concedes Nigeria’s sovereignty to China.

The lawmakers had picked holes in the $400 million loan agreement for Nigeria National Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Infrastructure Backbone Phase II Project, signed in 2018.

The controversial clause in the agreement, signed by Federal Ministry of Finance (borrower) on behalf of Nigeria and the Export-Import Bank of China (lender) on September 5, 2018, provides that “the borrower hereby irrevocably waives any immunity on the grounds of sovereign or otherwise for itself or its property in connection with any arbitration proceeding pursuant to Article 8(5), thereof with the enforcement of any arbitral award pursuant thereto, except for the military assets and diplomatic assets.”

Concern Nigerians condemned such loan agreement in its totality, saying that this government has no tangible infrastructural development to show for all the loan collected so far.

Political analyst, Comrade Martins Akpore call on the National Assembly to critically investigate this abnormality and the relevant ministries should disclose all loan agreements entered to Nigerians as the future and destinies of this great Nation cannot be mortgaged or compromised for whatsoever reason.