British PM challenges Jonathan on economic reform •As Nigeria’s total debt stock hits $37bn

Posted by admin Africa & World Politics, Goodluck Jonathan (2010-present), Presidency, Top Stories Tuesday, July 19th, 2011

THE British Prime Minister, David Cameron, has called on President Goodluck Jonathan to use trade and political reforms to tackle economic problems of the country.

He said this at a lecture entitled, “Entrepreneur and Innovation,” organised by Pan-African University, Ajah, Lagos, on Tuesday.

Cameron, who flew into Lagos, on Tuesday, highlighted the progress of democracy in Africa, lauding President Jonathan on his victory in the recent poll, which he described as the fairest in nearly two decades of electioneering process in Nigeria.

“It is time for the whole of Africa to meet the aspirations of people. It is time Africans take action to ensure it has a bigger say in how its countries are run. These are the demands the people have made in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya. These are the demands that have propelled the Arab Spring and these are the demands, which supported by a revolution in trade and enterprise mean Africa can seize its own moment of opportunity,” he said.

The prime minister said he was optimistic that Nigeria could achieve its potential in no distant time, adding that the Lagos State governor, Mr Babatunde Fashola, had provided good, strong and accountable governance to indicate it.

Commenting, Fashola, who was at the lecture, said the transAtlantic visit of the British Prime Minister, in spite of his tight schedules, had proved that the African continent would play a critical role in the future of the planet.

While saluting the representative of the British High commission in the country, Fashola said the corporation would provide the support the country needed for its international development plans.

Meanwhile, the Debt Management Office (DMO) has disclosed that the internal and external debt stock of the country, as of June 2011, was about $37 billion.

The Director-General of the organisation, Dr Abraham Nwankwo, disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja, while playing host to a delegation of Zimbabwe Debt Management Office (ZDMO), which was on a one-week tour of the DMO Nigeria on capacity building.

Dr Nwankwo, disclosing that the country’s total debt was $37 billion, said this figure was encouraging, as the Debt to Gross Domestic Product ratio was 19 per cent against the former 40 per cent.

Tracing the history of Nigeria DMO, Dr Nwan-kwo said it was Dr (Mrs) Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala who emphasised the need for Nigeria to have a strong public debt management system if it was to achieve debt relief from its creditors.

He encouraged the Zimbabwe debt management team to be sensitive to the peculiarities in the Zimbabwean economy, putting in place necessary initiatives to meet the local needs.

In his speech, the head of the ZDMO delegation, Mr Andrew Dvumbe, said Zimbabwe was looking out for the financial experts that engineered the processes that led to Nigeria’s debt relief from its creditors, during the administration of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.

-Tribunewp_posts