Bill And Melinda Gates Are Paying Off Nigeria’s $76 Million (N27.5 Billion) Debt To Japan

In 2014, the Japanese government provided Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) to Nigeria to help increase our polio eradication efforts. And they did help, because Nigeria did not record a case of polio from July 2014 to August 2016 (when two cases were reported). In 2017, no new cases of the wild poliovirus were reported.

But as a result of the ODA, Nigeria owed Japan $76 Million (N27.5 Billion). The repayment was set to begin four years after the loan in 2014, and let's face it they were probably not going to pay.
Well, Bill and Melinda Gates have now announced that they will settle Nigeria’s $76 million debt to Japan. At a time when leaders are increasing their focus on issues solely within their own borders, and doing that very poorly, Bill and Melinda are showing the importance of looking outward.

As the largest private philanthropic organization in the world, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation spends just over $3 billion a year on development assistance, according to The Guardian, and eradicating polio is one of the foundation’s top priorities.

 

The Nigerian Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, announced the debt repayment plans on Tuesday in Abuja when she met with Japanese House of Councillors Parliamentarians.

This feels like good news, but the fact remains that two people are paying off a whole country's debt. So we don't know whether to be happy or be ashamed.

 

Source: Konbini