ON THE ISSUE OF AMAECHI SELLING NIGERIA

The provision in the agreement with Export-Import Bank of China causing this brouhaha is Article 8(1) of the agreement, which states that “the borrower hereby irrevocably waives any immunity on the grounds of sovereign or otherwise for

itself or its property in connection with any arbitration proceeding pursuant to Article 8(5), thereof with the enforcement of any arbitral award pursuant thereto, except for the military assets and diplomatic assets”.

Article 8(1) does not mean they are selling Nigeria or your birthright in Nigeria. Sovereign immunity is a legal doctrine by which the government of a foreign country is immune from suit in the courts of another foreign country. Thus, if FGN fails

to pay back a loan, the lender cannot sue or enforce judgement against the FGN in say, a UK court. However, there are exceptions to this rule. One exception is where the immunity is waived. That is why a waiver of sovereign immunity clause,

like Article 8(1) quoted above, is usually inserted in a foreign loan agreement. This clause allows the lender to institute arbitration proceedings and enforce the arbitral award against the FGN and its assets in another jurisdiction or country if the FGN

fails to pay back the loan. (Note that Arbitration is a mechanism for settling disputes out-of-court and the ‘judgement’ reached in arbitration is called an arbitral award). The waiver only allows the lender to recover the loan. Please be assured that they are not selling Nigeria