FG Dismisses Claims of ₦80tn New Borrowing, Blames Debt Surge on Naira Revaluation, Accounting Adjustments

…Senators Raise Concerns Over Capital Budget Implementation

The Federal Government has dismissed claims that the Tinubu administration has borrowed nearly ₦80 trillion in the past three years, describing such figures as exaggerated and the result of accounting adjustments and misreporting.

Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, made the clarification on Monday while briefing the Senate Committee on Finance on the state of the nation’s economy.

Responding to concerns raised by Senator Adamu Aliero (Kebbi Central) over reports that the current administration had borrowed about ₦80 trillion in addition to the ₦75 trillion debt it inherited, the minister said the figures being circulated did not reflect the actual amount borrowed by the government.

He explained that when President Bola Tinubu assumed office, Nigeria’s public debt stood at about ₦75 trillion.

However, following the depreciation of the naira, the foreign currency component of the debt had to be revalued in naira terms, adding more than ₦40 trillion to the country’s debt stock without any fresh borrowing.

The minister also said the securitisation of about ₦33 trillion in Ways and Means advances obtained by the previous administration and subsequently approved by the National Assembly further increased the reported debt profile.

According to him, the addition was an accounting exercise that formally recognised existing liabilities rather than new borrowing.

“These factors have not always been properly explained, which is why the reported public debt appears much larger,” he said.

The minister further noted that much of the government’s domestic borrowing had been used to refinance maturing debts rather than accumulate fresh obligations.

“The actual amount this administration has borrowed is nowhere near what many people believe. Even for domestic borrowing, much of it is refinancing.

Debt that was borrowed previously matures, and government raises new debt to refinance it. That is not new borrowing,” he stated.

He maintained that the Tinubu administration had adopted a prudent borrowing strategy, insisting that loans were being channelled into infrastructure and other productive investments rather than recurrent expenditure.

“We see debt as leverage. Every naira and every dollar borrowed should generate more value than the amount borrowed,” he added.

The minister’s presentation, however, drew criticism from members of the Senate Committee, particularly Senate Chief Whip, Senator Tahir Monguno (Borno North), and Senator Adamu Aliero, who expressed dissatisfaction over what they described as poor implementation of the capital component of the 2026 budget.

Monguno reportedly argued that failure to implement the capital budget could amount to a constitutional breach, while Aliero also questioned the pace of budget execution.

Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, Senator Sani Musa (Niger East), sought to calm concerns, assuring lawmakers that implementation of the capital projects would soon gather momentum.

Speaking after a closed-door session with the minister and members of the government’s economic team, Musa said discussions focused on improving budget management through stronger revenue mobilisation and reforms.

He disclosed that the government was considering a shift to a performance- and priority-based budgeting system to replace the current envelope budgeting model, while also exploring a return to the previous contractor payment framework to improve project execution.