WHAT WAS THE COLLATERAL FOR NIGERIA'S CHINESE LOANS.

Which national assets have been used as collateral for the loans procurred by the Federal Government of Nigeria for the loans got so far from the Chinese?

Answers to this question are necessary now because the Chinese take over of national assets in some African countries for inability to honour loan servicing and repayment agreements points to what could happen should Nigeria  be unable too to repay.

Yet, can't pay is a possibility in the future especially if the oil and gas prices head down due to  glut in the market.

For now, the prices are at four year high due to US President Donald Trump's miscalculations about OPEC readiness to obey a command to drive prices down by flooding the market to close any supply gap from Venezuela and Iran.

Besides, the Nigerian foreign exchange position remains precarious in spite of the fairly high Brent crude price. For months now, the nation's reserve position has been dropping and by last week it crossed into the $44 bn range from celebrated peak range of $47bn up to July.

By quarter 2 this year Nigeria's foreign debt was put at $22.086bn owed by the Federal government and $15.63bn  by States. And both are still growing.

We hear that to reduce appetite for new loans to finance 2019 budget deficit, some national assets will be sold beginning from before or by first week next month while others will follow next year.

Perhaps the question may not be relevant and demand urgent answers if the loans we are talking about were used as in the case of railway and road projects to finance assets the Chinese could take over and manage to their hearts content in the event of default.

That may not be exactly the case. Some of the loans are going to be used to finance assets that can not be readily taken over.

So which national assets were actually used as collateral? Certainly, not the Eleme Petrochemical; Skyway Aviation Handling and NICON Insurance already being scheduled for sale soon.

Hope not any of the nation's oil and gas assets? Unfortunately, Henates suspects that indeed these assets  could be the ones put on the table for the Chinese nod for the loans.

But this is hoping those are not the assets used. If they are, that will be shortsightedness of the worst kind.

May be, they are not the ones used.  Just may be. Hmmm.

After all they are the ones that can salivate the Chinese to dig more deeply into their pockets and lick their lips in anticipation of can't pay, won't pay likely long after the present government would have served its term.

Hmmmm.

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