On Saturday, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, often known as HURIWA, responded negatively to comments made by the Presidency regarding the role that Chinese loans have played in the construction of infrastructure in Nigeria.
Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, the National Coordinator of HURIWA, issued a statement in which he claimed that the South-East region had been excluded from the purported projects that the Federal Government had been executing with the enormous sums that China had provided.
The organization criticized the government of President Major General Muhammadu Buhari (ret.), for spending irrational Chinese loans on irrational projects with no tangible economic returns. These projects included the construction of the Kano-Maradi railway to the Niger Republic, as well as many other projects in the President's hometown of Daura in Katsina State and other locations in northern Nigeria.
Recall that on Friday, presidential spokesman Femi Adesina told Ambassador Cui Jianchun and the new Deputy Chief of Mission/Ministerial Councilor, Zhang Yi, that Chinese loans have been very beneficial to the development of Nigeria's infrastructure. Zhang Yi is the new Deputy Chief of Mission and Ministerial Councilor.
The All Progressives Congress government has embarked on a borrowing spree over the past seven years, resulting in Nigeria's debt to China climbing from $3.26 billion as of September 30, 2020 to $3.59 billion as of September 30, 2021. Over the course of the past year, the value has seen slow and steady change.
Onwubiko of HURIWA issued the following statement in response to the remarks made by Adesina: "The allegation by presidential spokesman Femi Adesina that Chinese loans have contributed immensely to Nigeria's infrastructure is substantially incorrect."
"These Chinese loans must have been pocketed by top government officials because there is no evidence of any satisfactorily executed national strategic infrastructures by President Muhammadu Buhari in the last seven years," the author writes. "The only plausible explanation is that these loans were used to pay off other debts."
"For instance, in the South-East geopolitical zone, the Enugu-Port Harcourt highway is in shambles, and the Onitsha-to-Owerri highway is also in a poor state. Both of these highways are in the South-East geopolitical zone. The state of all of the major roadways that connect the south-east and the south-south is quite poor.
"Whereas, the Buhari dictatorship has lavishly spent the Chinese loans on profitless investments in northern Nigeria and Buhari's contacts with the Niger Republic. " In point of fact, the Kaduna-Abuja train services have been disrupted due to the increased level of insecurity in the President's backyard in the North-West. Even the Nigerian Railway Corporation had to cancel all train movements because of the threat posed by terrorists.
"In the same manner as his skewed nominations of northerners as heads of security agencies, Buhari's nepotism stretched like a tentacle to the allocation of projects throughout the six zones in Nigeria, with the South-East being the most marginalized of the six zones.
"The people of Nigeria have every major reason to vote against Buhari's APC in the election that will take place next year. Inclusion need to be the guiding principle for the new group of leaders that will be selected by the voters in 2023. There should be no room in the Aso Villa for candidates who are closed-minded, biased toward their own community or tribe, or both. There should be no discrimination against Nigerians based on their religious or ethnic backgrounds when it comes to reaping the benefits of democratic administration, which should be available to all Nigerians.
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