Why Nigeria ignored IMF on $5bn UAE Loan – Oyedele

Nigeria’s minister of finance, Taiwo Oyedele, has explained why it did not put into consideration the advice of the International Monetary Fund on the $5 billion First Abu Dhabi Bank loan.

Speaking after the Federal Executive Council meeting on Monday, Oyedele confirmed Nigeria’s drawdown of $1.5 billion.

According to him, the federal government gets the loan in tranches to save borrowing cost.

“The approval for that loan went to the National Assembly, so everybody is aware of it.

“It’s for the refinancing of expensive debts and financing of infrastructure, as well as budgets. So, we don’t want to start making press releases each time we do a drawdown. It is not different from any other loan,” he said.

“So, the loan is meant to be a drawdown in tranches, and one of the advantages of that is, if you need $5 billion and you take everything at once, you start paying interest, even though you’re not spending all of it now.

“So, this has been structured in a way that makes us even more efficient in the cost of borrowing by taking what we need part time,” he said.

Recall that the IMF had warned the Nigerian government against the First Abu Dhabi Bank $5 billion loan.

DAILY POST reports that the additional loan had further drawn concerns from financial experts.

However, Oyedele noted that critics against the country’s debt, which stood at N159.28 trillion as of December 2025, are doing a disservice to the nation.