The group of creditor nations known as the Paris Club has agreed to a comprehensive debt relief plan with Nigeria.
Their accord allows Nigeria to write off roughly 60 percent of its estimated $30 billion debt to the Paris Club.
That 19-member grouping said Thursday it welcomed an ambitious economic program implemented in 2003 by the Nigerian government, as well as Nigeria's desire to leave the creditor organization.
The relief plan follows the International Monetary Fund's approval earlier this week of a Nigerian economic management program. In June, the Paris Club said debt relief talks with Nigeria could begin only after the country concluded its debt negotiations with the IMF.
Some information for this report provided by AP, Bloomberg and Reuters.