By ebosele@hotmail.com –
Former Minister of Education, Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili, has called on President Bola Tinubu to terminate the £746 million ports financing deal signed between Nigeria and the United Kingdom, describing the agreement as opaque and financially questionable.
City Business News reports that Ezekwesili made the call in a statement titled, “President Tinubu, Terminate the Dodgy £746 Million Ports Deal, Now,” expressing concern that the terms of the agreement have remained undisclosed 152 days after it was signed by President Tinubu at Windsor Castle in the United Kingdom.
She said she initially refrained from commenting on the deal because of Nigeria’s worsening insecurity, but argued that the continued secrecy surrounding the agreement and what she described as a pattern of opaque governance could no longer be ignored.
According to her, Nigeria’s public debt has risen from about ₦87 trillion in May 2023 to more than ₦152 trillion, while debt servicing now consumes more than 60 per cent of government revenues.
Ezekwesili argued that the country’s growing debt burden made the ports financing arrangement particularly concerning, especially as the government’s annual borrowing rate had risen significantly.
She also criticised the National Assembly over the approval of a $21.45 billion external borrowing plan, alleging that it was approved without a substantive public hearing.
Turning specifically to the ports agreement, Ezekwesili stressed that the £746 million facility was neither a grant nor development aid but a sovereign debt obligation that would ultimately be repaid by Nigerian taxpayers.
She said the financing was arranged by Citibank London, guaranteed by UK Export Finance and structured to benefit British exporters.
According to her, at least £236 million of the facility is contractually reserved for British suppliers, while British Steel secured a £70 million contract, which it reportedly described as one of the largest in its history.
Ezekwesili questioned the rationale behind Nigeria borrowing the funds while British companies were positioned to secure contracts from the project.
“Yet neither interest rates nor repayment timelines have been officially published,” she said, arguing that Nigerians have a right to know the financial and contractual obligations being undertaken on their behalf.
She called on the Tinubu administration to immediately disclose the complete terms of the agreement and reconsider the deal in the interest of transparency, fiscal responsibility and the Nigerian public.
Ezekwesili maintained that major sovereign financial commitments should not be conducted behind closed doors, particularly at a time when Nigeria is facing severe fiscal pressures and rising debt-service obligations.
