Nigeria: US Lawmakers Call Nigerian Debt "Odious"

Anti-debt campaigners and some US lawmakers are joining forces to call on the George W. Bush administration to return debt arrears owed by Nigeria and to let the African nation spend the funds on health and education through a World Bank-sponsored fund. Eighteen members of the US Congress sent a letter to US Treasury Secretary John Snow and Export-Import Bank President James Lambright asking Washington to return part of the 12.4 billion dollars Nigeria will have to pay by March as part of a debt reduction agreement reached last year with the Paris Club.