President Bola Tinubu’s administration has borrowed N65.9 trillion in two years, more than five times the N12 trillion Nigeria accumulated in the first 55 years of independence, says Dele Oye, Chairman of the Alliance for Economic Research and Ethics.
Oye, immediate past chairman of the Organised Private Sector of Nigeria, said Nigeria’s total public debt now stands at N159.28 trillion as of April 2026, citing Debt Management Office data. “Every Nigerian owes N670,000,” he said.
He recalled that President Olusegun Obasanjo cleared $30 billion in Paris Club debt in 2006 with a $12 billion payment, leaving Nigeria “briefly, externally debt-free.” Debt rose to N12.06 trillion by 2015 under President Goodluck Jonathan, then “exploded” to N87.38 trillion under President Buhari — a 620% increase.
“Tinubu’s administration has added a further N65.9 trillion in just two years,” Oye said. “To put that in perspective: it took Nigeria’s first 55 years of independence to accumulate N12 trillion in debt. The present administration has added more than five times that amount in 24 months.”
While Nigeria’s debt-to-GDP ratio is 35.5% — below the IMF’s 55% distress threshold — Oye warned the real issue is debt service-to-revenue. He said it stood at 116.8% in 2024 and 113% in Q1 2025, according to the Nigerian Economic Summit Group. CBN data showed January 2025 debt service of N696.27 billion against retained revenue of N483.47 billion — “a 144 per cent coverage ratio in a single month.”
Oye urged urgent reforms: “Digitise tax collection and broaden the base; enforce the Fiscal Responsibility Act with criminal sanctions; restructure Eurobond maturities before the 2027 to 2029 redemption wall arrives; channel oil windfalls into a constitutionally protected stabilisation fund; and empower states to generate their own revenue.”
He concluded: “Nigeria has the tools. It has talent. What it has lacked, consistently and consequentially, is the political will to deploy them.”
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