Nigeria has failed to fully service its debt to China which has accumulated to N110.31 billion in the last two years.
According to a Debt Management Office (DMO) Report, the China debt stock included the principal and repayment charges.
The DMO put the principal fee from January 2021 to December 2022 at N69, 009,417,500 ($153.85 million). It said the interest charges amounted to N41, 311,455,000 ($92.1 million).
The Federal Government were incurred for the completion of the Idu-Kaduna section of the Nigeria Railway Modernisation Project; the Lagos-Ibadan section of Nigeria Railway Modernisation Project and the Abuja Light Rail Project.
A breakdown of the data showed that in 2021, the Idu-Kaduna section’s principal fee was $38.46 million (about N17.25 billion) with $9.5 million (about N4.26 billion) as its interest. The Lagos-Ibadan section’s principal was not indicated, but the interest stood at $ 24.07 million (about N10.80 billion).
During the period, the Abuja Light Rail Project had its principal fee at $38.46 million (N17.25 billion) with an accumulated interest at $11.45 million (N5.14billion).
As at last year, the principal on Idu-Kaduna section was $38.46 million (N17.25 billion). The interest fee stood at $8.52 million (N3.82 billion).
The interest fee on the Lagos-Ibadan section was the highest. It stood at $28.06 million (N12.59 billion) with the principal amount not indicated. The Abuja Light Rail Project principal was $38.46 million (N17.25billion), with accumulated interest charges of $10.48 million (N4.70 billion).
The Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) has been able to generate N11, 606,737,070 in two years, despite not being able to service its N41.31 billion debt.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said the sector realised N5,570,998,908 as revenue, which fell by N464,739,254 compared to the N6,035,738,162 generated in 2021.
In 2021, railway services generated revenue of N5, 697,512,095 from passengers, with goods realizing the sum of N299, 805,884 and other income receipts earmarked N38,420,183.
However, last year’s revenue indicated that N4,546,342,056 came from passengers, N416,856,190 was realized from goods and N607,800,662 was generated from other income.
While revenue generated from passengers fell last year, the goods and other income increased in productivity. Earlier, the NRC had identified insecurity as major impediment to the growth of rail services.
( Source : The Nation )
