Presidency denies Tinubu borrowed N120 trillion in 3 years

The presidency has described as misleading reports making the round on social media that president Bola Ahmed Tinubu borrowed N120 trillion in three years.

Reacting to the report, on X handle, Special Assistant to the President on Social Media, Dada Olusegun, accused opposition parties of peddling falsehood at a sensitive period of electioneering campaigns.

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CAPITAL POST read claims in a graphic calculation that
16 Nigerian leaders borrowed a combined ₦46 trillion over 63 years, while Tinubu accumulated ₦120 trillion in loans within three years despite removing the petrol subsidy.

Meanwhile, Olusegun insisted that the calculation left out past unrecognised government liabilities and changes in the exchange rate, insisted that their calculation was errorneous.

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He explained that Nigeria’s ₦46 trillion public debt at the end of 2022 excluded ₦22.7 trillion in Central Bank of Nigeria Ways and Means advances, which the government officially recognised in May 2023.

Olusegun in defence of the administration, said calculations must be on naira value to dollar exchange rate of ₦448 to the dollar, in conversion to foreign debt despite the parallel market rate exceeding ₦700 at the time.

According to him, the unification of the exchange rate in June 2023 increased the naira value of existing dollar-denominated debt by ₦13.4 trillion on paper, without the government taking additional dollar loans.

Olusegun maintained that Nigeria’s public debt rose from $113.4 billion in June 2023 to $120.9 billion in June 2026, representing an increase of $7.5 billion.

Defending the removal of the petrol subsidy, he said the policy had increased monthly allocations from the Federation Account Allocation Committee to state and local governments.

He said the allocations rose from ₦656 billion in April 2023 to ₦2.4 trillion by September 2026.

Meanwhile, Debt Management Office figures showed that Nigeria’s public debt increased from approximately ₦87.38 trillion in June 2023 to ₦166.79 trillion by June 2026. Much of the increase in naira terms was attributed to exchange rate adjustments and the securitisation of inherited Ways and Means advances.

The Presidency’s response comes amid renewed concerns over the country’s borrowing plans after Tinubu asked the Senate to approve a $7.7 billion external loan to partly finance the 2026 budget deficit.

Senate President Godswill Akpabio read the request during Wednesday’s plenary. The proposed loan is equivalent to approximately ₦10.79 trillion at the budget exchange rate of ₦1,400 to the dollar.

The latest proposal replaced an earlier borrowing request of $20.52 billion and €1.045 billion, which the President submitted to the National Assembly a week earlier.

Opposition parties, including the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), have criticised the government’s borrowing plans, warning that the country’s rising debt burden could have serious consequences for future generations.

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