This publication has been written following a UNITAR seminar which was organized for the Nigerian Debt Management Office (Geneva – Switzerland, 6-10 December 2004) on the ‘Legal Aspects of Debt and Financial Management’.
As part of this seminar, ten separate themes were chosen for discussion (see Seminar Information Note, Annex I). The broad aim of this seminar was to expose Nigerian debt managers to the importance of legal aspects in the borrowing process in general and in debt management in particular. The aim was also to prepare Nigerian debt managers to work proactively in multidisciplinary teams for structuring financial transactions, involving lawyers and their expertise at the right time. More importantly, this seminar provided an opportunity for the Nigerian participants to reappraise the legal basis of their financial arrangements which have contributed in no small measure to the debt burden of the country.
This document contains four separate papers, written by the seminar speakers. Some papers are more generic and treat the problematic of economic development as well as structuring and negotiating international financial transactions in a broader perspective. Other papers deal specifically with the Nigerian case pertaining to legal aspects and public finance.