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LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) - An agreement announced Thursday to cancel the bulk of Nigeria's massive foreign debt has fueled optimism among anti-poverty campaigners, but corruption and requirements imposed by the West still overshadow the future of Africa's most populous nation.
The Paris Club, an informal group of creditor nations, said it has agreed to cancel about 60 percent — some $18 billion — of Nigeria's foreign debt. Nigeria is home to over 17 percent of sub-Saharan Africa's 750 million people and had the biggest foreign debt on the continent.
Debt cancellation for Nigeria comes after a decision by the G-8 group of the world's richest nations in June to cancel $40 billion of debt owed by 18 other poor nations, most of them in Africa.
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