Business
Debt Servicing To Hit N10.43tn, Economists Slam FG
Published
3 years agoon
By
Editor
The Federal Government has projected that debt servicing will cost N10.43tn by 2025, according to the 2023-2035 Medium Term Expenditure Framework & Fiscal Strategy Paper.
This is a 182.66 per cent increase from the N3.69tn budgeted for debt service in 2022.
Multilateral agencies and economists have constantly warned the Federal Government about the rising cost of debt service, which can trigger a crisis for the country.
However, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Dr Zainab Ahmed, and the Director General of the Debt Management Office, Patience Oniha, have insisted that the country does not have a debt problem but a revenue challenge.
In a document by the DMO DG recently obtained by our correspondent, the DMO stated that high debt levels would often lead to high debt services and affect investments in infrastructure.
According to the DMO DG, “High debt levels lead to heavy debt service which reduces resources available for investment in infrastructure and key sectors of the economy.”
In the document, she stressed the need for debt sustainability, which she defined as the ability to service all current and future obligations, while maintaining the capacity to finance policy objectives without resort to unduly large adjustments or exceptional financing such as arrears accumulation, debt restructuring, which could otherwise compromise the economy’s stability.
READ ALSO: Amid Rising Debt, Subsidy Cost Jumps By 370%
Speaking at the launch of the World Bank’s Nigeria Development Update titled, ‘The urgency for business unusual,’ held recently in Abuja, the finance minister had admitted that Nigeria was struggling to service its debt.
She said, “Already, we are struggling with being able to service debt because even though revenue is increasing, the expenditure has been increasing at a much higher rate, so it is a very difficult situation.”
The International Monetary Fund had earlier warned that debt servicing might gulp 100 per cent of the Federal Government’s revenue by 2026 if the government failed to implement adequate measures to improve revenue generation.
According to the IMF’s Resident Representative for Nigeria, Ari Aisen, based on a macro-fiscal stress test that was conducted on Nigeria, interest payments on debts might wipe up the country’s entire earnings in the next four years.
Aisen said, “The biggest critical aspect for Nigeria is that we have done a macro-fiscal stress test, and what you observe is the interest payments as a share of revenue, and as you see us in terms of the baseline from the federal government of Nigeria, the revenue of almost 100 per cent is projected by 2026 to be taken by debt service.
“So, the fiscal space or the amount of revenues that will be needed and this, without considering any shock, is that most of the revenues of the Federal Government are now, in fact, 89 per cent and it will continue if nothing is done to be taken by debt service.”
Less than two months after Aisen’s warning, the finance minister disclosed that Nigeria’s debt service cost surpassed its revenue in the first four months of this year.
Debt service gulped N1.94tn between January and April 2022, as against a retained revenue of N1.63tn.
According to a recent PUNCH report, the Federal Government exceeded its debt service allocation by N1.15tn for the period between January and November 2021.
A copy of the public presentation of the 2022 approved budget by the finance minister showed that the Federal Government allocated N3.32tn for debt servicing in 2021.
READ ALSO: Debt Servicing May Take All Of Nigeria’s Revenue By 2026, IMF Warns
However, the minister’s presentation document showed that a total of N4.2tn was spent on debt servicing in 11 months, indicating a difference of N1.15tn or 37.9 per cent of the money allocated for debt servicing for the period.
The PUNCH also reports that Nigeria’s debt servicing bill increased by 109 per cent, from N429bn in December 2021 to N896bn in March 2022.
A report by the Nigerian Economic Summit Group and the Open Society Initiative for West Africa has disclosed that Nigeria and 10 other Economic Community of West African States countries are currently in debt distress based on debt sustainability analysis.
The 10 other countries are: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, the Gambia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Niger, Senegal, and Togo.
It was further disclosed in the report that public debt accumulation for these countries was becoming unsustainable and needed to be addressed to avert the looming debt crisis.
The report warned that the possibility of a debt crisis in Nigeria would adversely affect public and private investments, as well as other sectors of the country.
The World Bank recently said that Nigeria’s debt, which might be considered sustainable for now, was vulnerable and costly.
According to the Washington-based global financial institution, the country’s debt was also at risk of becoming unsustainable in the event of macro-fiscal shocks.
Experts have kicked against the Federal Government’s proclivity for debt, which they have described as unsustainable.
Economists slam FG’s debt proclivity
The Chief Executive Officer of Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, Dr Muda Yusuf, said that the Nigerian economy had been characterised by diverse economic vulnerabilities, which included rising public debt and debt service burden.
He said, “Debt service to revenue ratio for the first four months of the current year is over 100 per cent. The implication of this is that the actual revenue of the government over the period is not sufficient to service debt. Therefore, financing of the operations of government – personnel cost, overhead cost, capital expenditure, and even part of the servicing of the debt – will have to come from additional borrowing. These portend severe vulnerabilities for the Nigerian economy.”
A Professor of Development Macroeconomics at the University of Lagos, Prof Olufemi Saibu, criticised the government for over-borrowing.
He said, “I think we are over-borrowing. We continue to rely on international benchmarks, which make us lazy in terms of revenue generation.”
Prof Saibu urged the government to lessen its huge expenditure costs and channel money into more productive sectors of the economy.
“With our current heavy infrastructure debt financing and the low productivity in the local economy, the government needs to find a way of reducing its expenditures. We need to redirect the government’s finances to areas that are productive and borrow less for consumption,” he said.
In addition, Prof Saibu said that the government needed to look inwardly and borrow domestically rather than externally, which would lessen the burden of debt service.
He said the government should stop saying the country had the capacity to borrow more, and refrain from ballooning already outsized debts.
READ ALSO: Debt, Inflation Affecting Global Growth – World Bank
Prof Saibu advised that the government should engage the private sector in the area of infrastructure development to reduce the weight on the public sector.
A Professor of Development Economics at Babcock University, Prof Adegbemi Onakoya, said that borrowing was not an issue but the value obtained from it.
He also said that Nigeria had a revenue problem, which had made the country rely more on debt financing.
Prof Onakoya also said that there was a problem when money borrowed was not judiciously applied for productive purposes or programmes that would help production.
PUNCH
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Business
Dangote Fuel Sells Cheaper In Togo Than In Nigeria – Falana Laments
Published
2 days agoon
September 15, 2025By
Editor
Human rights activist Femi Falana, SAN, has lamented that fuel taken from Dangote is cheaper in Togo than in Nigeria.
Falana expressed his concerns on Sunday while responding to questions in an interview on Politics Today, a programme on Channels Television.
He urged the federal government to review the proposed 5 per cent fuel surcharge and ensure that further hardship is not imposed on Nigerians.
READ ALSO:Dangote Refinery Reduces Fuel Price Nationwide, Provides Update On Petrol Distribution
“I guess the government wants to go back to the drawing table and ensure that it is not accused of multiple taxes or double taxation because consumers will pay VAT for buying fuel. They will now put an additional 5 per cent tax.
“I think this is what Nigerians are complaining about. And from what we just read today is that the Dangote fuel taken from Nigeria is now cheaper in Togo than in Nigeria I think about 65 naira.
“So, the government will have to review these developments (the proposed 5 per cent fuel surcharge) and ensure more hardship is not imposed on Nigerians,” he said.
Business
Falana Reveals Those Behind Subsidy Removal
Published
2 days agoon
September 15, 2025By
Editor
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, has once again criticised President Bola Tinubu’s removal of the fuel subsidy.
Speaking in an interview on Sunday’s Politics, a programme on Channels Television, the human rights activist stated that no country in the world has completely abolished subsidies.
“There’s no way you can remove subsidy completely. No country in the entire world has abolished subsidies completely.
READ ALSO:Tinubu Subsidises Kidney Dialysis Cost By 76% In Federal Hospitals
“Even leading Western countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, France and others subsidise electricity, agriculture, and many aspects of the lives of their people.
“So, when the Nigerian Government said it was removing subsidies, as a matter of fact, if I must say this, it was the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, IMF, that insisted that the government must remove all subsidies,” he said.
Business
‘We Like Greek Gifts,’ Nigerians Blast NUPENG Over Dangote’s Fuel Price Reduction
Published
3 days agoon
September 13, 2025By
Editor
The decision of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) to warn Nigerians against accepting Dangote Refinery’s recent fuel price reduction has drawn heavy backlash on social media, with many citizens mocking the union and embracing what they described as “much-needed relief.”
Dangote had announced lower petrol pump prices in several states alongside a new scheme to deploy compressed natural gas (CNG) trucks directly to filling stations, a move expected to reduce logistics costs.
But NUPENG dismissed the offer as a “Greek gift,” alleging that the refinery was undermining workers’ rights, sidelining the union, and pushing drivers into a rival association.
However, netizens have lambasted the union, querying that during hard times, NUPENG has never supported the masses.
On X (formerly Twitter), Nigerians quickly turned NUPENG’s warning into a trending topic, using humour and sarcasm to lampoon the union.
READ ALSO:NUPENG Accuses Dangote Of Breaching Agreement, Says Nationwide Strike Inevitable
Oloye Somorin Osifeso (@OloyeSomorin) wrote: “We like Greek gifts in my garage.”
Just Jude (@JustJude) asked bluntly: “Is it your deception?”
Oladele (@Oladele) quipped: “As Dangote Refinery dey offer Nigerians Greek gift, why can’t NUPENG too offer Nigerians French gift?”
Agbalaka (@Agbalaka) queried: “Can they tell Nigerians what exactly they are fighting about?”
CBN Gov Akinsola (@Akinsola) joked: “Then give us Trojan gift now 😆. Man do man. Man no go vex.”
Omobalaji (@Omobalaji) teased: “NUPENG, oya surprise us with Arabian gifts.”
READ ALSO:Union Gloves vs Corporate Fists: The Dangote–NUPENG Showdown
Habdulakeem Bahdmus (@BahdmusHabdulakeem) added: “If Dangote is showering Nigerians with Greek gift, NUPENG can also set up a Roman gift now.”
Femi Yekinni (@FemiYekinni) steered it back to reality: “We thank them for their advice. Now, @DangoteGroup pls how do we schedule deliveries to Badagry?”
Curtis Abbi (@CurtisAbbi) slammed the union: “Nigerians will manage the Greek gift. @officialNUPENG9, what gift have you given Nigerians in your entire years of existence? NUPENG should offer Nigerians their own Somalian gift 🤣.”
Akin Adejola (@AkinAdejola) echoed the sentiment: “LOL. I can bet Nigerians don’t mind the gift. NUPENG should gift Nigerians same ‘Greek gift’ too if they have any goodwill. NUPENG is the enemy of progress in the oil & gas sector.”
READ ALSO:NUPENG Tanker Drivers Announce Strike Over CNG Trucks Dispute
Adeola Akinwande (@adeolarewaju9) criticised union leaders: “Does NUPENG remember Nigerians at hard times? They have all failed Nigerians the same way the @NLCHeadquarters has failed. They are living big on unionism and cashing out big time. Without unionism, some of their excos are nobody. They should stop the crocodile tears.”
Okunwa U. U. Azikiwe (@OkunwaUUazikiwe) argued: “Competition has created jealousy by the previous monopoly in the sale of fuel. They have lost control, and it is paining them that they are no longer in control. SMH!!!”
Solihull Abdulkareem (@SolihullAbdul) chipped in: “NUPENG or whatever, do you want the market to be monopoly? You’ve been doing what you want for many years. It’s time for change, just accept it and move forward.”
Temidayo (@Temidayo) asked: “It’s a lie. What benefits has your union provided for Nigerians? Middlemen syndrome has been room for corruption. Your association should go and buy shares in Dangote and work together to make Nigeria great.”
And LegalTech Sam Akanbi (@SamAkanbi) summed up: “Nigerians no longer want your Nigerian gift, we want the Greek gift. If you have a better offer, we’d abandon Dangote’s Greek gift and take yours. But for now, let the Greek gift go round.”
READ ALSO:NUPENG Mobilises Tanker Drivers, Petrol Attendants, Others For October 3 Strike
Recall that NUPENG earlier alleged that Dangote Refinery was forcing truck drivers to abandon its union for a rival group, the Direct Trucking Company Drivers Association (DTCDA).
The union also accused Dangote of undermining collective bargaining rights and violating a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed under government supervision.
Dangote, however, denies the claims, insisting that union membership remains voluntary and that its delivery scheme is designed to cut costs and ease supply.
The federal government has intervened, with the Ministry of Labour and the Department of State Services mediating between both parties.
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