China-Nigeria
Nigeria says Beijing has held off its pledged financing for two railway projects
Abuja: China is yet to release financing for two major railway projects in Nigeria, media reports said, an issue that has a potential to cause different between two nations.
Mu’azu Sambo, the Nigerian transport minister, said that though China had agreed to provide 85 percent financing for the construction of the Abuja-Kano and Port-Harcourt-Maiduguri railway projects, Chinese lenders had not yet disbursed the funds, more than a year since the projects were launched, reports The South China Morning Post.
Sambo said that Nigeria had paid 15 percent of the project cost in accordance with the contract with the Chinese contractor.
However, the minister said that the Chinese funding had not yet been provided, delaying the projects.
The two railways are part of multibillion-dollar railway projects across Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country with about 200 million people. The construction is mostly done by the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation.
“The Abuja-Kano and Port-Harcourt Maiduguri rail projects are ongoing but there is a challenge of the 85 percent foreign loan yet to be secured," Sambo was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
"We have been driving these two projects solely through appropriation, which is part of the 15 percent that Nigeria is supposed to contribute,” Sambo added.
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