China Eximbank provides $500 million preferential buyer’s credit for Nigeria Four Airport Terminal Expansion Project (Linked to Project ID #85965, #86025)

On July 10, 2013, China Eximbank and the Government of Nigeria signed a $500 million preferential buyer’s credit (PBC) agreement for the Nigeria Four Airport Terminal Expansion Project (Abuja, Kano, Lagos, and Port Harcourt). This PBC (loan), which is captured via Project ID#30341, carried the following borrowing terms: a 20 year maturity, a 7 year grace period, and a 2.5% interest rate. The final maturity date of the loan is September 21, 2034. As of December 31, 2020, Nigeria’s Debt Management Office (DMO) reported that the China Eximbank loan had achieved a 91.06% disbursement rate ($455.28 million) and the borrower had made interest repayments worth $46.42 million and no principal repayments to the lender. As such, the loan’s (principal) amount outstanding, as of December 31, 2020, was $455.28 million. The Nigeria Four Airport Terminal Expansion Project involved the expansion of four airport terminals in Abuja, Kano, Port Harcourt, and Lagos (Abuja International Airport, Port Harcourt International Airport, Murtala Muhammed International Airport, and Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport). The new terminal of Abuja International Airport (also known as Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, or NAIA) covers an area of 56,000 square meters and is connected to the Abuja City Railway via a 60-meter-long air corridor. It has 66 check-in counters, 5 baggage carousels, an immigration check-in port, and 16 departure immigration checkpoints. The new terminal at Murtala Muhammed International Airport consists of 66 check-in-counters, 16 immigration desks at arrival, 28 immigration desks at departure, 8 security screening points, 6 passenger boarding bridges (out of which 2 has already been installed), 2 food courts, 4 premium lounges, 22 guest rooms and spa, 16 airline ticketing offices, a visa on arrival and port health facility, a praying area, more than 3,000 square meters of duty-free space, and approximately 5,000 square meters of lettable utility space. Upon completion, it was envisaged that the four expanded airport terminals will increase passenger capacity from 20 million to 50 million and increase jobs from the 60,000 to 1.5 million employees. China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC) is the contractor responsible for implementation. Construction began on or around February 13, 2014. The new terminal at Port Harcourt International Airport was delivered on October 25, 2018. The new terminal of Abuja International Airport was delivered on December 12, 2018. The new terminal at Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport was completed in November 2019. The new terminal at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos was completed and officially inaugurated on March 22, 2022. Due to faults in the original construction of the terminals and other factors, the Nigerian Government requested additional funding for terminal construction activities from China Eximbank. On December 27, 2019, China Eximbank and the Government of Nigeria signed two additional PBC agreements: a $208,905,161.50 PBC for the Four Airport Terminal Expansion Project Incremental Project (captured via Project ID#86025) and a $183,621,056.89 PBC for the Four Airport Terminal Expansion Project Ancillary Project (captured via Project ID#85965). These PBCs carry identical borrowing terms: 20 year maturities, 7 year grace periods, and 2.75% interest rates. The final maturity date of each PBC is September 21, 2033. As of December 31, 2020, nether the $208,905,161.50 PBC nor the $183,621,056.89 PBC had disbursed and the borrower had not made any interest or principal repayments to the lender.

Additional details

1. This project is also known as the 4 Airports Terminal Expansion Project. The Chinese project title is 建的尼日利亚4座航站楼 or 四个机场航站楼项目 or 阿布贾航站楼 or 拉各斯航站楼 or 哈尔科特航站楼 or 卡诺航站楼. 2. In the database of Chinese loan commitments that SAIS-CARI released in July 2020, it does not record the grace period for this loan. AidData records the grace period (7 years) that is reported by Nigeria’s Debt Management Office (DMO) in its ‘Loans Obtained from China Exim As At December 31, 2020’ publication. 3. In the sources from Global Factiva, there are issues from the Mezzanine Clause of the deal. These issues have prevented the Lagos and Kano airports from being completed and have contributed to rising tensions between the Nigerian Federal Government and the Chinese Government.

Number of official sources

21

Number of total sources

51