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Bill and Melinda Gates Are Paying Off Nigeria's $76M Debt to Japan

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Re: Bill and Melinda Gates Are Paying Off Nigeria's $76M Debt to Japan

#41
post #24
post #16

Why does the 6th largest oil exporter in the world need a $76M loan paid? Edit: Downvotes? Legitimate question guys. Can someone explain how that works?

Wikipedia gives 2.231 million barrels exported per day for Nigeria in 2013. At $50 per barrel this amounts 40 billion Dollar per year. I have no idea what the profit margins are but at 10 % this yields only 4 billion Dollar in profits per year which seems rather little to me, especially given that it is the 6th largest oil exporter. So 76 million Dollar would be 1.9 % of the annual profits from oil exports, not much…

According to this,

http://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2016/06/18/wsj-nigerias...

Nigeria charges $4.11 per barrel in taxes. So I guess they get that $4B in tax revenue. 1.9% of oil tax revenue is not negligible, but I would think Nigeria would have more national pride than accept. Like Bolivia with Bill Gate's chickens.

Anyway, by GDP, Nigeria is 27,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nomi...

Re: Bill and Melinda Gates Are Paying Off Nigeria's $76M Debt to Japan

#42
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also a drop in the bucket compared with Nigeria's oil revenue. Why do they need charity to pay off the loan? This is clearly the Gates just engaging in corruption while making it look like they're "helping out".

Yeah, the Gates Foundation only cares about their image, they're really just in the pocket of Nigerian oil tycoons. LMAO. Or, you know, there are tens of millions of people in Nigeria suffering from problems unimaginable in the West, and their goal is to help children and eliminate diseases rather than wait for fundamental governmental reform that won't occur for decades at least.

Look, Nigeria is swimming in money yet remains a shithole. The Gates Foundation "donation" is only a replacement for tax money that went into somebody's pocket instead of being used for what taxes are meant to be used for, whether paying loans or building a healthcare system.

I never said they were in the pocket of the oil tycoons. The oil tycoons aren't the ones embezzling the country's entire national budget.

Re: Bill and Melinda Gates Are Paying Off Nigeria's $76M Debt to Japan

#43
post #34

It is amazing to see how Bill Gates immersed himself in his nonprofit work. I hope he stays rich so he can do more of these.

Having read Slashdot 15 years ago, a part of me is shocked to hear anyone wish that Bill Gates stays rich. But don't worry, Bill will be just fine.

Indeed. Apparently his wealth increased 13% last year. He would have to give at much higher rates to actually reduce his total wealth. Perhaps the perception is that if he was giving his money away then his net wealth would go down?

Re: Bill and Melinda Gates Are Paying Off Nigeria's $76M Debt to Japan

#44
post #41
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wikipedia gives 2.231 million barrels exported per day for Nigeria in 2013. At $50 per barrel this amounts 40 billion Dollar per year. I have no idea what the profit margins are but at 10 % this yields only 4 billion Dollar in profits per year which seems rather little to me, especially given that it is the 6th largest oil exporter. So 76 million Dollar would be 1.9 % of the annual profits from oil exports, not much…

According to this, http://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2016/06/18/wsj-nigerias... Nigeria charges $4.11 per barrel in taxes. So I guess they get that $4B in tax revenue. 1.9% of oil tax revenue is not negligible, but I would think Nigeria would have more national pride than accept. Like Bolivia with Bill Gate's chickens. Anyway, by GDP, Nigeria is 27, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nomi...

There's far more tax revenue than from just the oil itself. All the labour and equipment used for drilling is taxable too.

Nigeria has no excuses.

Re: Bill and Melinda Gates Are Paying Off Nigeria's $76M Debt to Japan

#45
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, the Gates Foundation only cares about their image, they're really just in the pocket of Nigerian oil tycoons. LMAO. Or, you know, there are tens of millions of people in Nigeria suffering from problems unimaginable in the West, and their goal is to help children and eliminate diseases rather than wait for fundamental governmental reform that won't occur for decades at least.

Look, Nigeria is swimming in money yet remains a shithole. The Gates Foundation "donation" is only a replacement for tax money that went into somebody's pocket instead of being used for what taxes are meant to be used for, whether paying loans or building a healthcare system. I never said they were in the pocket of the oil tycoons. The oil tycoons aren't the ones embezzling the country's entire national budget.

>shithole

you're tipping your hand a little much

Re: Bill and Melinda Gates Are Paying Off Nigeria's $76M Debt to Japan

#46
post #21

I'm I the only one who thinks that Japan kinda looks bad here? I mean, Bill's foundation is already dedicating $3B a year on development assistance, couldn't Japan just say to Nigeria: "You don't have to pay us back. Consider it a donation". How could they reasonably expect Nigeria to pay them back $76M?

> How could they reasonably expect Nigeria to pay them back $76M

Oil revenue?

Re: Bill and Melinda Gates Are Paying Off Nigeria's $76M Debt to Japan

#47
post #40
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, truly how terrible they are to spend money encouraging the eradication of polio.

Not to mention, polio spreads! If you can eradicate polio in a country for a paltry $100 million, it's in other countries' interest to do so, even if some of the money gets stolen. This is the difference between traditional charity evaluation (which seeks honest management) vs effective altruism (which seeks good done per dollar).

exactly!

People can't look past the egregious* waste of money to see that it isnt a waste at all, even if Nigeria should have repaid the debt or Japan should have forgiven it.

None of that matters! The result matters! Eradicating polio matters!

Re: Bill and Melinda Gates Are Paying Off Nigeria's $76M Debt to Japan

#48

To all the commenters too busy being aghast at giving money to a government to read the article: > Nigeria’s debt to Japan is the result of Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) provided by the Japanese government in 2014 for increased polio eradication. efforts. > The country has made great strides in its efforts to eliminate the disease thanks to this funding. > Nigeria did not record a wild case of polio from July…

This is the correct perspective. It seems that, Reddit style, many people here comment just the titles, don't read the articles. Polio is on the way to complete eradication all over the world. AFAIK the only place where it remains endemic is Baluchistan in Pakistan where the warlords are suspicious of vaccination agents. Victory on polio is a fantastic story that doesn't get the attention it deserves.

>Reddit style

Just as much HN style, where top comments frequently bring up old discussions completely unrelated to the article's content (e.g. js article -> js is a mess, blockchain article -> blockchain is a bubble, megacorp article -> this is why i never use megacorp's products)

Re: Bill and Melinda Gates Are Paying Off Nigeria's $76M Debt to Japan

#49

To all the commenters too busy being aghast at giving money to a government to read the article: > Nigeria’s debt to Japan is the result of Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) provided by the Japanese government in 2014 for increased polio eradication. efforts. > The country has made great strides in its efforts to eliminate the disease thanks to this funding. > Nigeria did not record a wild case of polio from July…

This is the correct perspective. It seems that, Reddit style, many people here comment just the titles, don't read the articles. Polio is on the way to complete eradication all over the world. AFAIK the only place where it remains endemic is Baluchistan in Pakistan where the warlords are suspicious of vaccination agents. Victory on polio is a fantastic story that doesn't get the attention it deserves.

well last time they claimed to be giving vaccines in pakistan it was to collect genetic information against a us target.

Re: Bill and Melinda Gates Are Paying Off Nigeria's $76M Debt to Japan

#50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the correct perspective. It seems that, Reddit style, many people here comment just the titles, don't read the articles. Polio is on the way to complete eradication all over the world. AFAIK the only place where it remains endemic is Baluchistan in Pakistan where the warlords are suspicious of vaccination agents. Victory on polio is a fantastic story that doesn't get the attention it deserves.

well last time they claimed to be giving vaccines in pakistan it was to collect genetic information against a us target.

You're getting downvoted... but this did happen, and is likely to blame for polio's continued presence in western pakistan.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-cia-fake-vacc...

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