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Olusegun Obasanjo, yesterday, in Singapore initiated moves to pay off the country's debt to the London Club by meeting with the consultants. This was the first contact at the highest level between the Federal Government and the consultants.
SINGAPORE - PRESIDENT Olusegun Obasanjo, yesterday, in Singapore initiated moves to pay off the country's debt to the London Club by meeting with the consultants. This was the first contact at the highest level between the Federal Government and the consultants. The consultants are expected to assist Federal Government to pay off about $4 billion still outstanding with the creditor club.
Present at the meeting were the chairmen of the Senate and House Committees on Finance, and officials of the Debt Management Office, the BPE and the Ministry of Finance led by the minister, Mrs Nenadi Usman and other stakeholders.
The two consultants, JP Morgan and Fitch Ratings, were selected to help the government in the final negotiations to exit the London Club. Earlier in the year, Federal Government succeeded in exiting from the Paris Club, having negotiated a debt relief of over $12 billion.
Obasanjo assures on polls
And at a meeting also in Singapore with members of the Global business community, president Obasanjo vowed that next April's elections would be held under peaceful atmosphere in a free and transparent manner.
He assured them that the political situation in Nigeria should not be seen as worse than what obtains in other parts of the world, adding that those interested in Nigeria should come and witness the conduct of the 2007 elections. He told the audience that since his administration came on board, it had embarked on irreversible reforms which are now yielding positive results in all sectors of the country.
'The most important group - Nigerians - has accepted the reforms. In fact, members of the National Assembly have enacted laws and are considering more laws to make the reforms irreversible," he said.
President Obasanjo led the Economic Team through a presentation on the investment opportunities in the country to an audience from the IMF/World Bank meetings during a dinner hosted by the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Nenadi Usman. Meanwhile, the President has directed various government agencies to fast-track the discussions on the establishment of a 2.3 million tonnes of fertilizer plant with the Indonesian government officials.