Why Nigeria must be careful with Chinese deals – Prof. Akinyemi

Nigeria’s former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, has told President Bola Tinubu to be careful with Chinese deals.

The former Director General, Nigerian Institute of International Affairs said this on a Channels Television programme: “Sunday Politics.”

Akinyemi said: “Of course, we should be careful but don’t isolate the debt to China. 

“There are also debts we owe the United States.

“There are also debts we owe even some of the medium-power countries.

“What we need to do is to be careful about two things: one, we shouldn’t default on that debt. 

“A month before this African-Chinese Summit, Nigerian sovereign goods were being impounded all around the world at the instigation of a Chinese company.

“So, China is not going to serve us anything on global butter.

“We have to be careful that we fulfil our part of the bargain, not only to China, but with all the other countries that we may be doing deals.

“It will impede on our status, our pride, our sovereign goods to be seized because we are defaulting from fulfilling our part of the agreements.”

Professor Akinyemi also demanded that the contents and types of agreements being entered into by states should come under scrutiny.

He said: “Nigeria as a sovereign country should keep an eye on the types and contents of agreements being signed by sub-nationals. 

“States are not entities in global systems.

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“They are not.

“Nigeria is the sovereign entity.

“Therefore, it is Nigeria that would be held responsible if states default in fulfilling agreements signed.

“The emperor in Nigeria is not the president in Abuja. 

“The emperors in the political system in Nigeria are the governors because there is nobody who controls them. 

“They have the (state) assemblies in their pockets, they have the judges in their pockets and yet internationally, it is Nigeria that they get into problems.”