By Bill And Melinda Gates Set To Pay $76m Loan On Nigeria’s Behalf
American billionaire, Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda have announced that they will settle Nigeria’s $76m debt to Japan.
It was gathered that the debt accrued as a result of Overseas Development Assistance (OAD) which was provided by the Japanese Government back in 2014 for increased Polio eradication efforts.
Nigeria was able to make great strides in its efforts to eliminate Polio due to the funding it received then and no record of wild case of Polio was recorded from July 2014 to August 2016. According to Global Polio Eradication Initiative, while a total of four cases were reported in 2016, no case was reported in 2017.
With all indications, Nigeria is very close to eradicating Polio thereby leaving Pakistan and Afghanistan as only two countries in the world where the diseases is still endemic.
The Bill and Gates Foundation, which is the largest philanthropic organisation in the world, top priorities is to eradicate polio. A report has shown that the Foundation spends a little over $3bn a year on development assistance.
Nigeria’s Minister of Finance Kemi Adeosun announced the debt repayment on Tuesday in Abuja when she met with Japanese House of Councillors Parliamentarians. The repayment was set to begin four years after Japan’s loan in 2014, which is what has now sparked the repayment. But with Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation intervening, the Federal Government may not be repaying Japan.
