OPC rises against China loan

The Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) has condemned the President Muhammadu Buhari led government’s loan arrangements with China.
The body in a statement on Tuesday signed by its Publicity Secretary, Yinka Oguntimehin, said the administration had embarked on a suicidal mission that will push the Nigerian economy to its knees.
OPC expressed worry that the borrowings would make the South-West the greatest loser.
It noted that Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, said it will take the Federal Government about 20 years to pay back the loan, OPC decried that government failed to judiciously utilise previous loans secured.
“How can you explain the rationale behind the loan arrangements? The government is up to something sinister because all available indices have it that the Nigerian economy is gradually moving downwards. Today our naira is N470 to a dollar. What that means is that our naira is falling daily to the American dollar.
“The Nigerian Port Authority (NPA) was established in 1913, even before the Nigerian independence in 1960. It is sad that one of our national heritage and institutions in the south is being mortgaged and considered as one of the assets and monuments for the payment plan with the China government.
“The controversial sovereign guarantee and sovereign immunity clause in the loan arrangement with China has raised many questions about the sincerity of federal government, and as a group we can not keep quiet as if we nothing is wrong. Nobody truly understands the drift of this government.
“We have a strong feeling that the North is suspecting that Nigeria will not last beyond 2023, that is why they are mortgaging the future of the entire nation with bad loans, and sadly they are using Amaechi and his allies from the south to perpetrate their sinister plans”, he noted.