China Loan Saga: Amaechi Points Accusing Finger At Jonathan

Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, Minister of Transportation, has accused former President Goodluck Jonathan also collected loan from China to execute projects in the country.

Naija News recalls that the House of Representatives had last week summoned Rotimi Amaechi, the Minister of Transportation; Zainab Ahmed, Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning and Alhaji Isa Pantami, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, over a loan agreement with China, which contained the waiver clause.

Article 8(1) of the commercial loan agreement signed between Nigeria and the Export-Import Bank of China, according to the House of Representatives, concedes Nigeria’s sovereignty to China.

The lawmakers had picked holes in the $400 million loan agreement for Nigeria National Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Infrastructure Backbone Phase II Project, signed in 2018.

Also condemning moves to secure loans from China, Katch Ononuju, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), accused Amaechi of perpetrating fraud under the guise of securing funds for railway projects.

The PDP lao called on the Minister of Transportation to resign.

But reacting in an interview with Channels TV, Amaechi said the loan being referred to by the PDP chieftain was actually taken by ex-President Jonathan.

The former Rivers State governor described calls for his resignation was unnecessary.

Amaechi said: “There’s a gentleman who went to AIT, and said ‘oh I should resign’ and I wonder which university he graduated from, certainly not University of Port Harcourt,” Amaechi said.

“He said I should resign. Resign from what? Are you saying those projects weren’t executed? Is there no Kaduna-Abuja railway?

“By the way, he said he is PDP; that loan was taken under President Goodluck Jonathan’s government.

“The loan he’s talking about — the Kaduna-Abuja railway — was signed by the President Goodluck Jonathan government.

“Don’t forget that we told the whole world when commissioning that project, that 80 percent of that project was executed by President Goodluck Jonathan’s government.

“The loan was taken by President Goodluck Jonathan’s government, and for that reason we had to name the train station and infrastructure in Agbor after President Goodluck Jonathan’s government for that laudable achievement.”