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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

#71
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was a loan, possibly from the taxpayers, it wasn't charity. Governments don't just "lose track" of $76 million owed to them. Or at least, they shouldn't. Presumably, Nigeria agreed to the terms, so I don't see the issue.

I'm sure Nigeria did agree to the terms, but if I were a citizen of Japan I would be embarrassed that the money was not just gifted as part of a foreign aid program.

I would probably feel the same way. But it was a loan, and if I were a citizen of Japan, I also might not be happy about the government loaning out that much money to a foreign country and then forgetting about it.

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

#72
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Nigeria is not swimming in money. You're talking about $200 or $300 per capita of GDP going to corruption, maximum. They have an economy comparable in size to Indiana, with 190 million people.

You're talking about $200 or $300 per capita of GDP going to corruption, maximum.

Do you have a source?

According to https://www.pwc.com/ng/en/publications/impact-of-corruption-... the cost of corruption in Nigeria is around $1000 per person per year, and rising. Given that the GDP per capita is estimated at around $2180 per person, this is not a small impact.

(I was surprised to find that GDP per capita is less than income per capita.)

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

#73
post #65
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

If they make so much cash with oil, then why does Japan and Bill Gates have to spend billions to help them fight polio?

The amount of money isn’t really the issue, it’s the infrastructure for getting this revenue back towards public funds. That is to say corruption and a lack of internal organizations probably prevent a good portion of revenue from coming back to the people... And/or that they’ve already obligated themselves to other humanitarian efforts. Oh yeah and don’t forget existing debt obligations which are likely to be many factors larger...

Also, more importantly, you should probably google before shit posting as they roughly make ~$48bn of their GDP from oil.

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

#74
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This was a loan, possibly from the taxpayers, it wasn't charity. Governments don't just "lose track" of $76 million owed to them. Or at least, they shouldn't. Presumably, Nigeria agreed to the terms, so I don't see the issue.

I'm sure Nigeria did agree to the terms, but if I were a citizen of Japan I would be embarrassed that the money was not just gifted as part of a foreign aid program.

>if I were a citizen of Japan I would be embarrassed

You clearly don't understand the Japanese. If anyone is to be embarrassed, it is the Nigerians promising to pay and then failing to. Accepting money from the Bill Gates foundation is more shameful. Japanese do not beg.

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

#75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

It wasn't the last time. Pakistan is an extremely large nation with 40+ years of substantial vaccination efforts by the US and West in general. It'd be fair to say that at least 99.9% of that effort was entirely innocent. The CIA doing what it did should have never happened obviously. That simultaneously doesn't excuse non-vaccination, which is extraordinarily inexpensive and could be performed by Pakistani governmen…

> and could be performed by Pakistani government persons as a compromise.

Political opponents still can frame anyone associated with "being an US puppet"... and for the chemtrail-lovers with an addition of "they're not vaccinating you, they're putting tiny microchips into you". Do note I didn't make up that last one, it literally flew somewhere over my Facebook feed today.

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

#76
post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure Nigeria did agree to the terms, but if I were a citizen of Japan I would be embarrassed that the money was not just gifted as part of a foreign aid program.

I would probably feel the same way. But it was a loan, and if I were a citizen of Japan, I also might not be happy about the government loaning out that much money to a foreign country and then forgetting about it.

I didn't mean they should forget about it in the literal sense. I meant that when Nigeria started putting out the feelers for their loan to put the final nail in the coffin of polio someone in the international community, perhaps Japan, perhaps the US, should have just gifted them the money. The fact that it was a loan in the first place is the problem.

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

#77
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>shithole you're tipping your hand a little much

According to https://www.transparency.org/news/feature/corruption_percept... Nigeria is tied for 136th worst corruption in the world, out of 176 countries. Worldwide, Nigeria is the poster boy for scams. Google "nigerian 419 scammer" for an example. According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)... the per capita income of Nigeria is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_e…

> You may think that "shithole" is too strong of a statement. But that description seems about right to me

It's a term that was recently applied, with almost comical precision, to countries that are predominantly black. It was applied in respect of the people from those countries, specifically immigrants, more specifically regarding their individual merit as potential Americans.

TL; DR When discussing race, particularly anything relating to black people or predominantly-black countries, it's probably best to use another word.

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

#78
post #28

Nigeria loses tens of billions of dollars a year to corruption, especially in their oil industry, especially among politicians. If I was Nigerian, I would find this sort of charity to be very embarrassing.

Nigeria has a $2,000 GDP per capita. Embarrassment over assistance on polio eradication is not a luxury they have. Any help there is fortunately going to be largely welcomed by Nigeria.

In PPP terms it's over 5,000$. Still poor, but not as bad as you might think.

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

#79
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to https://www.transparency.org/news/feature/corruption_percept... Nigeria is tied for 136th worst corruption in the world, out of 176 countries. Worldwide, Nigeria is the poster boy for scams. Google "nigerian 419 scammer" for an example. According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)... the per capita income of Nigeria is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_life_e…

> You may think that "shithole" is too strong of a statement. But that description seems about right to me It's a term that was recently applied, with almost comical precision, to countries that are predominantly black. It was applied in respect of the people from those countries, specifically immigrants, more specifically regarding their individual merit as potential Americans. TL; DR When discussing race, particula…

as a minority immigrant from a shithole country, i find this opinion condescending and racist. please use whatever adjective you would use for any other race - i don't need my sensitive minority ears protected by an up-to-the-minute adjective whitelist, thanks.

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

#80

The problem is a charity paying off your debt does not make your credit better. While its slightly better than a writeoff/forgiveness because the creditor isn't as angry, it still shows they can't pay back loans. Is a future creditor going to count on a charity showing up to pay them off?

Ability to repay is one of the top credit factors. Having the existing debt paid off improves ability to repay any future debt. If anything, the prospect of Bill Gates going around randomly paying debts makes issuing debt more appealing.
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