Nigeria in talks to defer debt service obligations to "2021 and beyond" –finance minister

LAGOS, May 5 (Reuters) - Nigeria is in talks to defer debt service obligations to "2021 and beyond", Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed said in a web conference on Tuesday.

"It's not debt forgiveness, it's just rescheduling of our obligations," said Ahmed, with regards to talks with lenders. She did not provide details of the lenders with whom talks were held. She said Nigeria was spending around 58% to 60% of revenues to service debt, which was responsible for the request. (Reporting by Libby George and Alexis Akwagyiram in Lagos, and Chijioke Ohuocha in Abuja; Writing by Alexis Akwagyiram; Editing by Alex Richardson)