By Charles Adingupu
Speculations that Nigeria has deployed more than fifty percent of her total annual budget to service debt may not false after all as the Debt Management Office (DMO) refuted media reports that Nigeria had defaulted in the repayment of loans obtained from China.
The organisation in a release refuted the claim that Nigeria has defaulted in servicing debt owned to China, and described as untrue that Nigeria is currently facing penalties amounting to N41.31 billion consequent upon her default.
The DMO which described the reports as false, as well as, misleading, assured that the country was fully committed to meeting all its debt obligations, as and when due.
The statement reads in full, “The attention of the Debt Management Office (DMO) has been drawn to a publication by some media houses claiming that Nigeria has defaulted in debt repayment to China for which it claimed “penalties stand at N41.31bn”
“The public is advised to ignore the publication as it is FALSE.
“A closer look at the media publication shows that the body of the publication is completely detached from the headline which gives the impression that the publishers of the report may have set out to mislead the public.
“The public is assured that Nigeria is fully committed to honouring its debt obligations and has not defaulted on any of its debt service obligations. The media report should therefore be dis-regarded.”