Nigeria in trouble over debt that is now $145 billion, up 74% in 10 years even as President Tinubu is asking for another over N30 trillion loan
OpenLife News editorial sees Nigeria as borrowing its way into a future it may not be able to afford, and the World Bank’s latest figures prove the debt trap is no longer a distant fear but a present reality.
Nigeria is borrowing its way into a future it may not be able to afford.
That is the stark warning from the World Bank’s International Debt Report 2026, which puts Nigeria’s external debt stock at $145.015 billion in 2025 — up 6.6 per cent in just one year, and up a staggering 74.3 per cent in ten years.
In 2015, the external debt was $83.213 billion. As of now, it is $61.8 billion higher. In a decade, the country has added the equivalent of an entire national budget in foreign debt alone.
This is not just a statistic. It is a mortgage on the future of every Nigerian child.
The breakdown is revealing as follows:
Public and publicly guaranteed debt: $62.4bn
Private non-guaranteed debt: $54.476bn
Short-term external debt: $28.139bn
Among public creditors, multilateral institutions hold the largest share at $31.365bn, followed by private creditors at $24.352bn and bilateral creditors at $6.683bn.
The World Bank’s IDA alone accounts for $18.533bn. IMF Special Drawing Rights allocations stand at $5.516bn.
China remains Nigeria’s largest bilateral creditor at $5.672bn, far ahead of France at $774m.
Others hold $237m. However and in plain language, Nigeria is now substantially dependent on external financing, from Washington to Beijing to international bondholders, just to keep the lights on.
The World Bank report offers a small comfort — external debt relative to exports fell 4.3 per cent to 212 per cent, and debt-to-GNI fell 6.6 per cent to 51 per cent.
But that comfort is false. This is because, at the same time, the real pain of debt service got worse. External debt service is as a proportion of exports which jumped 9.6 per cent to 19 per cent.
Debt service relative to GNI rose 6.9 per cent to 5 per cent.
Translation
We are earning relatively more, but we are paying out far more to service old debts. Less money for schools, hospitals, roads, and jobs. More money for creditors.
This is the classic debt trap — you borrow to grow, then you spend your growth paying back the borrowing.
Nigeria is not alone. Low- and middle-income countries collectively paid a record $1.4 trillion in debt service in 2025, the fifth consecutive year of increases.
Between 2022 and 2025, these countries paid $436.1bn more in debt servicing than they received in new financing. They were bleeding cash.
There was a slight reversal in 2025, with a net inflow of $45.4bn in long-term debt flows, compared to a net outflow of $118.4bn in 2024. But the structural problem remains.
And the cost of borrowing is brutally unequal.
Official creditors in 2025 charged an average of 1.9 per cent interest, with 25-year maturity and 5-year grace period.
Private creditors charged 9.6 per cent, five times more, with only 12-year maturity and 8-year grace period.
When Nigeria goes to the private Eurobond market, it pays through the nose. When it goes to the World Bank, it gets a breather. The choice should be obvious, but our appetite for quick, expensive money remains.
Just as these alarming figures emerged, President Bola Tinubu has written to the Senate seeking approval for a fresh supplementary external borrowing plan of $20.52 billion and €1.045 billion for 2026-2027.
At today’s official rate of N1,367.61/$ and N1,529.79/€, that is approximately N29.66 trillion. At parallel market rates, it is over N30.12 trillion.
The President says the money will bridge Nigeria’s infrastructure gap, sustain growth, generate employment and improve living conditions across power, transportation, agriculture, healthcare, education, water supply, security and financial management reforms.
He says the projects were selected after thorough technical and economic evaluation. He says they will be executed across all 36 states and the FCT.
He says they will generate employment, promote skills acquisition, foster entrepreneurship, reduce poverty and enhance food security.
We have heard this before
Every administration since 1999 has borrowed in the name of infrastructure. Every administration has promised jobs, growth and poverty reduction.
Yet the debt keeps rising, the infrastructure gap remains, and the ordinary Nigerian feels poorer.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio has referred the request to the Committee on Local and Foreign Debts, with a directive to report back within one week.
One week to scrutinise N30 trillion in new debt?
The letter, notably, provided no detailed project-by-project breakdown, no specific financing terms, no amount earmarked for each sector.That is not scrutiny. That is rubber-stamping.
OpenLife News is not against borrowing. No serious nation develops without leveraging debt.We are against borrowing without accountability, without transparency, and without a clear repayment plan.
We are against borrowing at 9.6 per cent to fund projects that may never be completed, while our children inherit the bill.
We are against a system where debt service consumes nearly one-fifth of our export earnings, yet we keep adding more.
If this N30 trillion must be borrowed, then Nigerians deserve:
Full disclosure: Project-by-project list, cost, location, contractor, and expected completion date.
Cheaper money: Prioritise concessional multilateral loans at 1.9 per cent over expensive private bonds at 9.6 per cent.
A debt ceiling with teeth: A legal limit tied to revenue, not just GDP, and enforced by an independent fiscal council.
A moratorium on waste: No new borrowing should be approved while abandoned projects litter the country.
Nigeria is at a crossroads. We can borrow to build a productive economy that can repay its debts and lift millions out of poverty. Or we can borrow to consume, to patch holes, to fund prestige projects, and leave the next generation to pay for our profligacy.
The World Bank numbers are not just warnings. They are a mirror.And what they show should deeply worry every Nigerian.
Q: How much is Nigeria’s external debt in 2025?
A: According to the World Bank International Debt Report 2026, Nigeria’s external debt stock is $145.015bn in 2025, up 6.6% from the previous year and up 74.3% from $83.213bn in 2015.
Q: How much is Tinubu’s new loan request?
A: President Tinubu is seeking $20.52bn and €1.045bn in supplementary external borrowing for 2026-2027, worth about N29.66 trillion at official rate and N30.12 trillion at parallel market rate.
Q: Who is Nigeria’s biggest creditor?
A: The World Bank’s IDA is the largest multilateral creditor at $18.533bn. China is the largest bilateral creditor at $5.672bn.
Q: Why is Nigeria’s debt service a problem?
A: Debt service as a proportion of exports rose to 19% in 2025, meaning nearly one-fifth of export earnings go to repaying debt, leaving less for infrastructure, health and education.
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