Nigerian Situation Hopeless Without Debt Relief

Officials from the Nigerian government have recently traveled to Washington and will also travel to several European capitals, pleading their case for relief of Nigeria’s $37 billion external debt. Senators Udoma and Osakwe spoke to Davin O’Regan (Debt Relief Critical to Development and Democracy, Senators Say, www.allafrica.com, May 6, 2005, Washington, DC). Most of the debt was incurred under military dictatorships, they allege, and much of the money never made it to the projects for which it was borrowed. Now, the country must spend $2 billion annually just to service the debt. This makes the debt go even higher, causing a vicious cycle further impoverishing the country and threatening its march toward democracy. Recently, efforts are being made against corruption. The National Assembly has passed several pieces of anti-corruption legislation. A National Political Reform Conference has been at work on political reform, tackling such issues as term limits. There are similar efforts to reform the economy. But these efforts could fail without debt relief. Elections will be held in 2007, and the government needs to show improvement in the lives of people if they are to embrace democracy. "It is critical that we get debt relief now," Ukoma told O’Regan, "because democracy must show appreciable dividends. We are directing funds from essential services: the amount we are paying on debt is about three or four times what we are spending on education. It is thirteen times what we are spending on health."

O’Regan points out that Nigeria has a population of 130 million. The per capita income is $300. Seventy percent of Nigerians live on less than one dollar a day. Unicef statistics show that 79,500 Nigerian children below the age of five die every month from malnutrition and poor health care. Nigeria’s oil revenues aren’t much help. Nigeria is the seventh largest producer of oil, but they do not have the smaller population of countries such as Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Their oil revenues only provide 50 cents per person! If given debt relief, the money would be spent on "health services, education, rural infrastructure, the water supply, and fighting HIV/Aids and malaria," Udoma told O’Regan.

Along with the obvious benefits to the United States and Europe of a democratic Nigeria, a healthier, more developed, more educated Nigeria, Udoma and Osakwe point out one particularly attractive benefit debt relief will enhance. Nigeria can provide a democratic, peaceful, stabilizing influence in Africa. Already, Nigeria has peacekeeping missions in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Sudan. It has also played a pro-democracy role in Togo and Sao Tome. Debt relief will enable Nigeria to put more resources into its peacekeeping and stabilizing role. In fact, Udoma points out, the United States and Europe probably even owe Nigeria for playing this role. "These things cost money, material and lives," Udoma points out. "…all these efforts that Nigeria is making is saving the United States the pains, the money and the lives." This is how the Nigerian officials hope to convince the U.S. and Europe that debt relief is not just a favor to them, but is mutually beneficial and will help Africans handle their own problems without the need for outside intervention.