The Debt Management Office (DMO) has affirmed that Nigeria has not defaulted on any of its debt service obligations and that the country is fully committed to honouring all its debt agreements.
The Management of DMO stated this on Wednesday in Abuja while reacting to publications in some media on the purported default of Nigeria in servicing its debt obligations to China.
The DMO assured the public of the country’s commitment to respecting all the debt agreements it had entered into with creditors and urged everyone to disregard the erroneous and misleading media reports.
In a terse statement, the Management of DMO stated in part: “Rebuttal of false publication by some media houses titled, ‘Nigeria defaults in debt repayment to China
“The attention of the Debt Management Office (DMO) has been drawn to a publication by some media houses claiming that Nigeria has defaulted in debt repayment to China for which it claimed “penalties stand at N41.31bn”
“The public is advised to ignore the publication as it is false.
“A closer look at the media publication shows that the body of the publication is completely detached from the headline which gives the impression that the publishers of the report may have set out to mislead the public.
“The public is assured that Nigeria is fully committed to honouring its debt obligations and has not defaulted on any of its debt service obligations. The media report should therefore be disregarded”.
There has been growing apprehension in some quarters about the ability of Nigeria to meet its debt obligations to China based on the false premises of the Nigerian Railways’ paltry income earnings from the various railway corridors in the country that were largely funded by loans from China.
This might have fuelled the speculation that Nigeria had defaulted on its debt obligations simply because the income generated from all the Railways’ routes by the Nigerian Railways Corporation may not be enough to offset the money the country had borrowed to partially fund the construction.
READ ALSO FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
