Presidential candidate of Labour Party in the 2023 elections, Mr. Peter Obi, has decried Nigeria’s rising debt profile, following the recent approval by the Senate of additional foreign and domestic borrowing.
TheHintsNews reports that the Senate, on July 22, approved $21 billion, €2.2 billion, and ¥15 billion in external loans, alongside a N750.98 billion domestic bond issuance and a €65 million grant, as part of the 2025–2026 fiscal borrowing plan.
Obi in a statement issued Tuesday warned that Nigeria’s escalating debt was not yielding tangible results in critical areas such as education, healthcare, infrastructure, and security.
While acknowledging that borrowing is not inherently bad, he emphasised that it must be tied to productive, transparent, and measurable investments.
Obi noted that with an existing public debt of about N149.39 trillion in Q1 2025, the newly approved loans, totalling approximately N37.2 trillion, would push Nigeria’s public debt to around N187 trillion—and potentially over N200 trillion by year-end.
He said: “This current pattern of borrowing without accountability is simply mortgaging the future of our children,” he warned. “Leadership must consider the inter-generational consequences of unsustainable borrowing.”
“We are accumulating exponential and unsustainable levels of debt with little or nothing to show for it.”
Obi pointed out that even after the recent GDP rebasing which raised Nigeria’s GDP to about N372.8 trillion (approximately $243.7 billion), the nation’s debt-to-GDP ratio now stands at an unprecedented 50.16 per cent —the highest in its history.
“Before rebasing, the government had borrowed nearly 70 per cent of our previous GDP,” he said.
Obi, therefore, called for a return to disciplined, prudent economic management through reduced cost of governance, plugging of financial leakages, and massive investment in human capital. “Nigeria cannot continue to borrow recklessly while poverty deepens and public trust erodes,” Obi said.
“It is time to stop this fiscal indiscipline and build a New Nigeria—where leadership is responsible, development is people-centred, and every kobo borrowed delivers measurable impact,” he noted.