Nigerian Officials Signing Loan Documents In Chinese Language, Lawmaker Claims

A member of the House of Representatives, Mr Ben Ibakpa has claimed that some Nigerian officials sign loan documents from China in Chinese language.

Mr Ibakpa said this on Thursday when he appeared on Channels Television’s breakfast show, Sunrise Daily, claiming that the National Assembly is not carried along when the country takes loans from China.

According to the member representing Ethiope Federal Constituency, the National Assembly has been kept in the dark before now, adding that the lawmakers, will, however, play more active role when the country wants to take loans from China.

“The national assembly is kept in the dark in all these loans. The National Assembly is not part of it,” the lawmaker said. “Even the Bureau for Public Procurement is not aware of these loans.

“These loans are collected via the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC). They bring a bill, the Federal executive approves the bill.”

He claimed that “from what we have seen from other countries, the Chinese loans are overpriced and these people are very corrupt.”

Speaking further, he said the present government having campaigned with an anti-corruption mantra, should do better as corruption is fueled by awarding of contracts.

Mr. Ibakpa, claimed that some Nigerian officials do not critically look into loan documents before signing, and said that “Some of these agreements that are signed, they come in Chinese language.”

While admitting that the National Assembly may not have done the right thing over the years, he added that whatever has been done in the past that it is not correct, needs to be corrected.

He said that for the 2020 budget, “we are taking about over N2 trillion appropriated for debt servicing. We appropriate and we don’t know how these money is being spent.

“That is why we have come for once, let us look into what has been happening since 2002.”