Rising debt: Financial expert, Idakolo x-rays Nigeria’s situation
Nigerians have expressed divergent views over the incessant loans taken by the federal government, which has bloated the country’s external debts.
reports that the Senate recently approved President Bola Tinubu’s external borrowing plan of over $21 billion for the 2025–2026 fiscal cycle, paving the way for the full implementation of the 2025 Appropriation Act.
The comprehensive borrowing package includes $21.19bn, in direct foreign loans, €4bn, ¥15bn, a $65m grant and domestic borrowing through government bonds, totaling approximately N757bn.
Nigeria’s total public debt climbed to N144.67 trillion ($94.23 billion) as of December 31, 2024, reflecting a significant increase of 48.58% compared to N97.34 trillion ($108.23 billion) recorded at the end of December 2023.
This latest figure was disclosed by the Debt Management Office (DMO) in its report on the country’s public debt profile.
The report also indicated a quarter-on-quarter rise of 1.65% from the N142.32 trillion ($88.89 billion) recorded at the end of September 2024, highlighting the continued increase in the nation’s debt burden within the final quarter of the year.
Reacting, the Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 general election, Peter Obi, lamented what he described as the reckless borrowing by this regime without accountability.
“As our GDP before rebasing was about N269.2 trillion (about $180 billion), the government has borrowed the equivalent of nearly 70% of our previous GDP. 7.Even after the rebasing, which pushed our GDP to about N372.8 trillion (about $243.7 billion), the government would have borrowed about 50.16% of the new GDP (with the approved 8.loans), the highest debt-to-GDP ratio in our history as a nation,” he said.
Similarly, the African Democratic Congress, ADC, condemned the Tinubu administration over what it called fiscal vandalism, saying the president is borrowing far more than his predecessor, Late Muhammadu Buhari, and placing Nigeria on the edge of a financial disaster.
The newly formed opposition coalition said President Tinubu’s government has borrowed more in two years than Buhari did in eight, warning that the country’s total debt could hit ₦200 trillion before the end of 2025.
“The African Democratic Congress (ADC) is deeply concerned by the Tinubu administration’s dangerous obsession with borrowing. What Nigerians are witnessing, following the approval of a fresh $21 billion in foreign loans, is nothing short of a calculated decision to mortgage the country’s future just to cover up the failures of today,” it said.
However, speaking to SOCIETY WATCH, a financial expert and the Chief Executive Officer of SD & D Capital Management, Gbolade Idakolo, said it was not a bad idea for the government to take additional loan if it would be of immense benefit to the infrastructure development and to deepen the country’s economic aspiration.
