The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, on Tuesday, August 4, reiterated that there was nothing wrong with Nigeria ceding her sovereignty to China.
Amaechi made this declaration during a TV programme over the controversies surrounding the $500 million loan from China.
He insisted that Chinese loans are the cheapest form of loans the country can get anywhere.
“What is wrong with Nigeria ceding its sovereignty to China?” Amaechi asked.
“I said this because the sovereignty you are ceding is not the sovereignty that makes you a nation.
“If you watch my interview with the AIT, you’ll see that I was very proud to have been trained at the University of Port Harcourt.
“This is because that training at the University of Port Harcourt makes me understand that there’s a difference between what the honourable Minister of Justice was explaining today – what is diplomatic immunity, jurisdictional immunity and commercial immunity.
“Just like the commercial banks will ask you for collateral before giving you a loan; this country is saying we’re not Nigerians; we’re not you father; if we want to give you $500m, we want you to wave the immunity that will stop us from taken you arbitration if you default.”
Amaechi also lampooned the National Assembly’s position on the country’s loan agreements with China.
He wondered why the NASS went ahead to approve the loans knowing it was signing off the country’s sovereignty.
It was quoted as saying, “we have signed out the sovereignty of our country, so why did they approve? Didn’t they see it before approving?”
“A sovereign nation is a sovereign nation, nobody can recolonise us. We must learn to pay our debts and we are paying, and once you are paying, nobody will come and take any of your assets,” Amaechi insisted.
The Minister said it was even wrong to blame the previous administration for the loan or clause in the agreement, adding that it is a standard clause.
