Nigeria is to host the first AU-New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) meeting on external debt management in the first quarter of 2011, Mr Goodie Ibru, has said. Ibru, the Chairman of NEPAD Business Group Nigeria, disclosed this when he paid a courtesy visit on the Director-General, Debt Management Office (DMO), Dr Abraham Nwankwo.

He said, "In recent times, the nation has witnessed a sharp increase in external debt stock, dwindling external reserves and adverse capital movement.

"This trend is rather disturbing to us in NEPAD because of its likely impact on wealth creation and poverty eradication, which are the most important challenges facing it.

To this end, NEPAD Business Group Nigeria plans to organise the first AU-NEPAD Roundtable on External Dept Management in Nigeria." According to him, the roundtable will be organised in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance, CBN, ECOWAS, NEPAD Business Group West Africa and all stakeholders.

"To us in NEPAD Business Group Nigeria, the DMO is a strategic partner, as far as mobilisation of international resources is concerned," Ibru said.

Responding, Nwankwo said DMO was committed to ensuring that the nation"s debts were being managed effectively for the development of the country. He said that government's effort was to ensure that the private sectors were carried along in the plan to develop the nation.