The Federal Government of Nigeria formally dismissed reports asserting that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's administration accumulated roughly eighty trillion naira in fresh public debt since taking office. Addressing lawmakers during an interactive session on the state of the national economy hosted by the Senate Committee on Finance, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, clarified that the figures being circulated by media outlets do not reflect new borrowing activities but rather represent major accounting adjustments and inherited financial obligations.
Responding to inquiries from members of the legislative committee, Oyedele explained that public debt stood at approximately seventy-five trillion naira when the current administration assumed office. He noted that a widespread misconception arises when observers directly compare that baseline figure with the current aggregate debt stock without accounting for structural currency adjustments and statutory debt conversions. Because Nigeria records its overall public debt profile in local currency, the significant depreciation of the naira relative to major foreign currencies automatically inflated the nominal naira valuation of the country's pre-existing foreign-denominated loans, adding more than forty trillion naira to the total debt balance sheet without any new cash drawdowns.
The finance minister further detailed that an additional thirty-three trillion naira was formally incorporated into the national debt stock following the National Assembly's approval to securitize the Central Bank of Nigeria's Ways and Means overdraft facilities. Oyedele emphasized that this legislative step did not constitute new borrowing, but rather represented a formal accounting conversion that transformed existing short-term overdraft liabilities inherited from the previous administration into transparent, long-term debt instruments. He cautioned against equating legislative borrowing limit approvals under the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework with immediate cash drawdowns, noting that approved external financing plans are only drawn over extended execution timelines.
During the session, members of the Senate Committee on Finance expressed concern over the implementation rate of capital projects provided for in the 2026 national budget, urging the ministry to accelerate disbursements to drive infrastructure development. In response, Oyedele assured the committee that the ministry remains focused on maintaining fiscal discipline, improving domestic revenue performance through ongoing tax reforms, and ensuring that strategic capital projects receive adequate funding to support broader economic stabilization.
