The Federal Government has refuted claims that President Bola Tinubu’s administration borrowed about ₦80 trillion within its first three years in office, insisting that the widely circulated figure is misleading and largely driven by accounting adjustments rather than fresh loans.
The clarification was made by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Taiwo Oyedele, while addressing the Senate Committee on Finance during a briefing on the country’s economic situation.
Responding to lawmakers’ concerns over reports suggesting the administration borrowed ₦80 trillion on top of the estimated ₦75 trillion debt it inherited, Oyedele said the figures being quoted by some commentators and media reports do not accurately represent the government’s actual borrowing.
He explained that although Nigeria’s public debt stood at about ₦75 trillion when President Tinubu assumed office, subsequent economic reforms and the depreciation of the naira significantly increased the naira value of the country’s foreign debt.
“When this administration came into office, public debt was around ₦75 trillion. Many people simply compare that figure with today’s debt stock and conclude that this government has borrowed massively.
“However, following the reforms and the depreciation of the naira, the foreign currency component of our public debt had to be revalued because Nigeria reports its debt in naira. That accounting adjustment alone added more than ₦40 trillion to the public debt figure,” he said.
The minister further told the committee that about ₦33 trillion was added to the public debt through the securitisation of Ways and Means advances, a process approved by the National Assembly. He stressed that the amount was not new borrowing but the formal recognition of existing financial obligations.
Meanwhile, members of the Senate Committee on Finance expressed dissatisfaction over what they described as the poor implementation of the capital expenditure component of the 2026 budget.
