Christians say Nigerian debt repayment ‘obscene’
-07/12/05
The Jubilee Debt Campaign
Christians say Nigerian debt repayment ‘obscene’
-07/12/05
The Jubilee Debt Campaign has branded the British government ‘obscene’ for taking a debt repayment from Nigeria which dwarfs the UK’s entire annual aid budget for the African continent, and urged that it give the money back.
The Group of Seven leading industrial countries, which met in London last weekend, are soon to receive 12.4 billion US dollars (£7.2bn) from Africa’s most populous nation as part of a debt rescheduling package agreed this year by the Paris Club of creditor countries.
As Britain is Nigeria’s largest creditor, it is set for a windfall of £1.7bn in the coming months – considerably larger than the £1bn-a-year portion of the European Union rebate that Tony Blair has offered to give up.
Charity Jubilee Debt Campaign says the payments mean the G7 will receive more in six months from Nigeria than the 2005 Gleneagles G8 deal will provide to poor countries in a decade.
Trisha Rogers, Jubilee’s director, said: “It is obscene for G7 countries to take billions of dollars from one of the poorest countries on earth. In particular this means the UK will take from Nigeria almost exactly twice as much as it is giving in aid to the whole of Africa in 2005.”
She urged Britain, which chairs the G7, to take the lead in refusing to accept the payments.
Gordon Brown, who has been for some years one of the key forces behind greater debt relief for poor countries, said after the G7 meeting that he thought it fair that Nigeria pay some of its debts given that it had a huge windfall from the doubling of oil prices over the past 18 months. Nigeria is a significant oil producer and a member of the Opec cartel.
“The key issue is that Nigeria has substantial oil revenues this year. Nigeria wished to write off its debts … it did a deal with the Paris Club that it would have some of them written off if it agreed to pay some of them,” he said.
But the Jubilee Debt Campaign argues that Nigeria is one of the world’s poorest countries – one in five children does not live to the age of five – and has already paid off 17 bn US dollars of debt. The rest – consisting of penalties and interest – was run up by previous dictators.
The country has a democratic government which, Jubilee says, has made clear steps in fighting corruption and was praised by the World Bank for its transparency and willingness to commit future funds to the poor.
All proceeds from debt relief have been earmarked for poverty reduction and will be tracked through the World Bank-supported Virtual Poverty Fund.
Reverend David Ugolor of Jubilee Nigeria said: “This money should be helping the 80m Nigerians who live in extreme poverty, not subsidising rich countries like the UK. If they take this money, they will be denying our people access to education, healthcare and water. We call on the UK and other rich governments not to take the money. If they do, we will hold them responsible for condemning many of our poor to continued suffering and death.”
Christians say Nigerian debt repayment ‘obscene’
-07/12/05
The Jubilee Debt Campaign has branded the British government ‘obscene’ for taking a debt repayment from Nigeria which dwarfs the UK’s entire annual aid budget for the African continent, and urged that it give the money back.
The Group of Seven leading industrial countries, which met in London last weekend, are soon to receive 12.4 billion US dollars (£7.2bn) from Africa’s most populous nation as part of a debt rescheduling package agreed this year by the Paris Club of creditor countries.
As Britain is Nigeria’s largest creditor, it is set for a windfall of £1.7bn in the coming months – considerably larger than the £1bn-a-year portion of the European Union rebate that Tony Blair has offered to give up.
Charity Jubilee Debt Campaign says the payments mean the G7 will receive more in six months from Nigeria than the 2005 Gleneagles G8 deal will provide to poor countries in a decade.
Trisha Rogers, Jubilee’s director, said: “It is obscene for G7 countries to take billions of dollars from one of the poorest countries on earth. In particular this means the UK will take from Nigeria almost exactly twice as much as it is giving in aid to the whole of Africa in 2005.”
She urged Britain, which chairs the G7, to take the lead in refusing to accept the payments.
Gordon Brown, who has been for some years one of the key forces behind greater debt relief for poor countries, said after the G7 meeting that he thought it fair that Nigeria pay some of its debts given that it had a huge windfall from the doubling of oil prices over the past 18 months. Nigeria is a significant oil producer and a member of the Opec cartel.
“The key issue is that Nigeria has substantial oil revenues this year. Nigeria wished to write off its debts … it did a deal with the Paris Club that it would have some of them written off if it agreed to pay some of them,” he said.
But the Jubilee Debt Campaign argues that Nigeria is one of the world’s poorest countries – one in five children does not live to the age of five – and has already paid off 17 bn US dollars of debt. The rest – consisting of penalties and interest – was run up by previous dictators.
The country has a democratic government which, Jubilee says, has made clear steps in fighting corruption and was praised by the World Bank for its transparency and willingness to commit future funds to the poor.
All proceeds from debt relief have been earmarked for poverty reduction and will be tracked through the World Bank-supported Virtual Poverty Fund.
Reverend David Ugolor of Jubilee Nigeria said: “This money should be helping the 80m Nigerians who live in extreme poverty, not subsidising rich countries like the UK. If they take this money, they will be denying our people access to education, healthcare and water. We call on the UK and other rich governments not to take the money. If they do, we will hold them responsible for condemning many of our poor to continued suffering and death.”