Nigerian Officials Signing Loan Documents Written In Chinese Language, Lawmaker Claims

A member of the House of Representatives, Mr Ben Ibakpa has claimed some Nigerian officials signed loan documents from China written in the 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.

He claimed that some Nigerian officials do not critically look into the loan documents before signing, adding that, “Some of these documents come in the Chinese language”

According to the member representing Ethiope Federal Constituency, the National Assembly has been kept in the dark before now concerning the Chinese loans.

“The National Assembly is kept in the dark in all these loans. The National Assembly is not part of it. 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,” the lawmaker said.

He said the present administration, having campaigned with an anti-corruption mantra, should do better in checking these loans as corruption is fueled by awarding of contracts.

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.

Speaking concerning the 2020 budget, Ibakpa said little is known about how the money is being spent.

“We are talking about over N2 trillion appropriated for debt servicing. We appropriate and we don’t know how this money is being spent. That is why we need to look into what has been happening since 2002.”