The Presidency on Tuesday rejected claims by the Nigerian Democratic Congress( NDC) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, that President Bola Tinubu’s administration had accumulated about N200 trillion in debt, insisting that the increase in Nigeria’s debt profile was largely due to the impact of currency devaluation rather than fresh borrowings.
Special Assistant to the President on Social Media, Olusegun Dada, made the clarification in a post on his X handle while reacting to Obi’s allegation that the Tinubu administration had engaged in “imprudent borrowing” and raised the country’s debt by over N100 trillion within three years.
“For the umpteenth time, Nigeria’s obvious debt portfolio increase over the past three years under the administration of President Tinubu is not a function of new borrowings rather; vast majority of them are mathematical impacts of currency devaluation which you also promised to implement during your campaigns,” Dada said.
According to him, the current administration inherited about N20 trillion in Ways and Means debt, which was later securitised to ensure repayment, adding that the amount constituted a significant portion of the debt Obi attributed to the Tinubu government.
Dada also noted that Nigeria’s public debt includes loans taken by subnational governments over the years.
Questioning Obi’s interpretation of the debt figures, the presidential aide said: “If tomorrow, President Tinubu decides to fix the Naira against the dollar at N500/$ and the value of our debts in Naira drops drastically, will Mr Peter Obi unequivocally agree that the President has repaid all of our debts?”
He argued that governments across the world borrow to accelerate development and described as “absolutely ridiculous” the suggestion that an administration whose total budgets in the last two budget cycles were less than N100 trillion could have borrowed almost N200 trillion.
Dada further stated that Nigeria’s debt in dollar terms had remained relatively stable, ranging from $108 billion in 2023 to $109 billion in 2026, while net external reserves had grown from $3 billion in 2023 to about $40 billion in 2026.
“We will continue to set the records straight at every given opportunity while allowing Mr President to focus on delivering his mandate to the good people of Nigeria,” he said.
Obi had earlier accused the Tinubu administration of “remarkably imprudent borrowing,” claiming that Nigeria’s total debt had risen to approximately N200 trillion and questioning the utilisation of borrowed funds.
He alleged that the government borrowed N11.89 trillion in the first three quarters of 2025, exceeding its planned borrowing target of N10.34 trillion, and called for greater transparency and accountability in the management of public resources.
