Nigeria has paid off its debt. Good news right? You bet. Those international creditors have had it rough over the last few years. And c'mon, the poor have always been poor so what does it matter?
The Jubilee Debt Campaign, a pressure group, notes that the $12.4 billion that Nigeria has paid back over the past six months is more than the G8 club of rich nations will give away in debt relief to poor countries over 10 years.
"Twelve billion dollars in Nigeria would have gone a long way towards saving children, immunisation, healthcare, all kinds of things," Professor Jeffrey Sachs, director of the UN Millennium Project, told British lawmakers last year.
"But the donors got greedy. They said, 'Take the oil revenue that you have responsibly been saving up, and instead of investing it in your needs, give it to us'," Sachs complained.
You see it is about the principles. There are lessons that need to be learned. Sure, 75% of Nigerians live on less than a dollar per day, but some people just need new Hummers and exotic vacations. Priorities people.
(image of Nigeria from world-crisis.com)
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