By Ayomide Otitoju
The Federal Government has dismissed claims that the administration of President Bola Tinubu borrowed about ₦80 trillion within three years, describing the figures as misleading and driven largely by accounting adjustments rather than new loans.
Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, made the clarification while briefing the Senate Committee on Finance on the state of the nation’s economy.
Responding to concerns raised by lawmakers over reports that the current administration had added about ₦80 trillion to the country’s debt stock, in addition to the ₦75 trillion it inherited, Oyedele said the figures did not accurately reflect fresh borrowing.
According to him, Nigeria’s public debt stood at about ₦75 trillion when the Tinubu administration assumed office, but the depreciation of the naira significantly increased the local currency value of the country’s external debt.
He explained that because Nigeria reports its public debt in naira, the revaluation of foreign currency-denominated obligations following exchange rate reforms added more than ₦40 trillion to the debt stock without representing new borrowing.
Oyedele also said the ₦33 trillion securitisation of the Federal Government’s Ways and Means advances, approved by the National Assembly, reflected the formal recognition of existing obligations rather than additional loans.
Despite the clarification, members of the Senate Committee on Finance expressed concern over what they described as the poor implementation of the capital component of the 2026 budget.
