The Federal Government has refuted claims that President Bola Tinubu's administration borrowed about ₦80 trillion within its first three years in office, describing the figure as misleading and driven largely by accounting adjustments rather than fresh borrowing.The clarification was made by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, during a briefing with the Senate Committee on Finance on the state of the nation's economy.
Lawmakers had sought explanations over reports suggesting that the current administration had accumulated about ₦80 trillion in new debt in addition to the approximately ₦75 trillion debt stock it inherited.
Responding, Oyedele said the figures widely reported by some media organisations do not accurately represent new borrowings by the Federal Government.
He said, “When this administration came into office, public debt was around N75tn. Many people simply compare that figure with today’s debt stock and conclude that this government has borrowed massively.”
The minister explained that the depreciation of the naira significantly increased the naira value of Nigeria's external debt because the country's debt portfolio is reported in the local currency.
According to him, “However, following the reforms and the depreciation of the naira, the foreign currency component of our public debt had to be revalued because Nigeria reports its debt in naira. That accounting adjustment alone added more than ₦40tn to the public debt figure.”
Oyedele further disclosed that an additional ₦33 trillion was reflected in the debt stock following the National Assembly's approval of the securitisation of the Central Bank of Nigeria's Ways and Means advances.
He maintained that the amount did not represent new loans but the formal recognition of existing financial obligations.
Meanwhile, members of the Senate Committee on Finance raised concerns over what they described as the poor implementation of capital projects captured in the 2026 budget, urging improved execution of approved expenditures.
