Chinese loans to Africa not debt traps, says Comrade Onunaiju, Centre for China Studies
The Director of the Nigeria Centre for China Studies, Comrade Charles Onunaiju has debunked the opinion which postulates that, Chinese loans to African countries, were intended to entangle them in a debt trap similar to their experience with loans obtained from governments and private financial institutions in the West.
He described the notion as propaganda orchestrated by the imperialist nations and their agents who are not comfortable with the emerging progressive friendship and partnerships between China and the developing countries.
Comrade Charles Onunaiju told journalists of the Neptune Prime while on a courtesy visit to the newspaper’s corporate headquarters yesterday in Abuja, that, based on its bitter historical experience with imperialism, China’s relationship with other countries was consciously built on the principles of mutually beneficial partnerships rather than, one that is aimed at imperialist dominance and exploitation.
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On Nigeria-China bilateral relationship, Comrade Onunaiju cited the various railways, the Mambila hydro-electric dam and the Lekki Deep Sea port projects, to illustrate that, Chinese loans to African countries were usually, tied to viable developmental projects, which, if properly managed, would eventually pay off the loans used in their construction.
He also pointed out that, while the much vaunted Nigeria’s high indebtedness to China was less than 5% of the country’s total volume of loans from foreign countries and private lending institutions, Chinese loans are given on more liberal conditions with far less interest rates and repayable over longer time spans than those given by the western countries and private lending institutions.
Comrade Charles Onunaiju advised federal and state governments in Nigeria, to mobilise and assist the nation’s famers and entrepreneurs towards benefitting from the huge opportunities offered by the latest Chinese government’s efforts at catalysing production activities, economic development and growth by its policy of duty free for exports of goods from African countries.
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The Director of the Nigeria Centre for China Studies, lamented that, while South Africa, Tanzania, Namibia and Kenya, have been exporting meat, clove, flowers and other agricultural produce to China under the policy, Nigeria has not been reaping from the window of huge economic prosperity, through the promotion of production and exports of agricultural produce such as sesame seed, oil palm and ginger among others.
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