The Debt Management Office (DMO) has contested media reports that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu inherited N21 trillion in public debt which arose to N142 trillion.
DMO said, in a statement issued on Monday, that the actual total public debt as of June 30, 2023 after President Tinubu took office stood at N87.38 trillion.
Tinubu came into power on May 29, 2023.
In the 2025 budget, President Tinubu’s administration plans to spend N16.327 trillion on its debt obligations, out of the proposed expenditure of N49.7 trillion.
The DMO clarified that the figure includes the external and domestic debt of the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN), the 36 states, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
“As a matter of fact, the Total Public Debt Stock as at June 30, 2023, which was the first published debt data after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu assumed office (on May 29, 2023); was N87.38 trillion, and not N21 trillion as reported in the media.
“Furthermore, it should be noted that the Total Public Debt published by the DMO comprises the External and Domestic Debt, not only of the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN), but also of the thirty-six (36) States and the Federal Capital Territory,” the statement read.
Nigeria’s debt servicing obligations continue to rise amid the country’s growing external debt profile.
Payments to multilateral creditors alone, such as the IMF and World Bank, represented 88.2% of the total expenditure in Q3 2024. Bilateral creditors, particularly China, accounted for the remaining 11.8%.
Nigeria spent $712,663,738.33 servicing multilateral debts, with the principal repayments standing at $593,875,221.94, interest payments at $117,687,033.80, and other charges totaling $1,101,482.59.
Key beneficiaries in this category include:
- International Monetary Fund (IMF): $406,975,201.79
- International Development Association (World Bank): $218,770,714.58
- African Development Fund: $62,863,863.90
- African Development Bank: $14,843,345.92
- Islamic Development Bank: $2,667,950.12
