A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the government of President Muhammadu Buhari to answer for how a $460 million Chinese loan was used to fund the failed Abuja Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) project.
The court said the Government must publish the total amount of money paid to Chinese and local companies and contractors, precise details of the identities of the companies and contractors, and the status of the implementation of the project.
Hon. Judge Emeka Nwite issued the directives in his ruling in the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP)’s Freedom of Information lawsuit.
Recall that SERAP had in December 2019 filed a lawsuit against Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, over failure to “disclose information and specific documents on the total amount of money paid to contractors from the $460 million loan obtained in 2010 from China to fund the apparently failed Abuja CCTV project”.
The suit followed the disclosure in 2019 by the Minister that “Nigeria was servicing the loan”, adding that she had ‘no explanations on the status of the project.’ She reportedly said, “We are servicing the loan. I have no information on the status of the CCTV project”.
In his judgement, Justice Nwite agreed with SERAP that “there is a reasonable cause of action against the government. Accounting for the spending of the $460 million Chinese loan is in the public’s interest. It will be inimical for the court to refuse SERAP’s application for judicial review of the government’s action.”
Justice Nwite also said that “the Minister of Finance is in charge of the finances of the country and cannot by any stretch of imagination be oblivious of the amount of money paid to the contractors for the Abuja CCTV contract and the money meant for the construction of the headquarters of the Code of Conduct Bureau.” He also ordered the government “to provide the details clarifying whether the sum of N1.5 billion paid for the failed contract meant to construct the headquarters of the Code of Conduct Bureau was part of another loan obtained from China”.
Joined as defendants in the suit are Mrs. Ahmed and the Minister of Police Affairs.
Data from the Debt Management Office, (DMO) show that between June 2015 and December 2022, Nigeria’s overall borrowing from China increased from $1.39 billion to $4.29 billion.
The Federal Government will spend nearly 74.6% of its anticipated revenue of N6.31 trillion in 2023 on debt payment, according to the Nigerian government’s 2023–2025 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper.
If Nigeria doesn’t repay loans it received from China, China could seize important national assets from it.
According to a report, Nigeria may not have paid back its debt to China, and may be subject to a penalty of N41.31 billion. The debt Nigeria owes China, which has grown to N110.31 billion over the past two years, has not been properly serviced, according to the DMO.
