On Wednesday the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has claimed that the Federal Government has repaid up to $150m out of the $2bn loan borrowed from China to construct rails.
Amaechi stated this while answering questions on Channels Television’s ‘Politics Today’ programme.
The minister noted that the President Muhammadu Buhari administration only borrowed for the Kaduna-Abuja and the Lagos-Ibadan railways.
When asked how much of the Chinese loans obtained that the Federal Government has repaid, Amaechi said, “The right ministry to respond to that question is the Ministry of Finance; they borrow and they repay but I think the last I heard about it, it was between a $100m to $150m repayment that we have done so far in the Kaduna-Abuja.
“Don’t forget that we’ve not borrowed any money yet, the only money we borrowed is in Kaduna-Abuja and Lagos-Ibadan.
“Lagos-Ibadan, what we borrowed is about $1.5bn though it is not matured for repayment, what has matured for repayment is the Kaduna-Abuja which is being repaid.
“Nigerians think we borrow so much but the only projects we have borrowed so far is the Kaduna-Abuja where we borrowed $500m and Lagos-Ibadan where we borrowed $1.5bn. So, that brings the total loan exposure for us in the Ministry of Transport to about $2bn as far as the railway is concerned.”
