The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has said President Bola Tinubu is mortgaging Nigeria’s future with his increasing external borrowings.
ADC, in a press statement issued by the National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, said the fresh $1.25 billion World Bank loan being requested by the president will further deepen the nation’s debt profile, which he said has risen to about N159.28 trillion.
The party noted that the $1.25 billion came barely weeks after the National Assembly had approved another round of external borrowing running into billions of dollars for the president.
ADC expressed concern that the National Assembly, which should serve as checks on executive excesses, “Has been reduced to a mere rubber stamp, approving massive borrowing requests with little resistance or serious public scrutiny, even as debt servicing continues to consume an increasingly unsustainable portion of government revenue.”
The party stated that Nigeria cannot continue mortgaging the future of unborn generations just to keep the present administration politically afloat.
It added that despite the huge sums of money being borrowed, hunger, inflation, unemployment, business closures, and a collapsing standard of living are still the lot of ordinary Nigerians.
ADC accused the Tinubu administration of running a Ponzi economy, where new loans are constantly being taken to service old debts and cover fiscal failures, while ordinary Nigerians are left to carry the burden.
The party recalled that President Tinubu had declared that Nigeria would spend about $11.6 billion (over N15 trillion) on debt servicing alone in 2026, but stated that such huge sums could have been used to build roads, hospitals, schools, electricity, security, agriculture, and job creation, instead of paying creditors and servicing old loans.
ADC condemned the speed and scale of such borrowings, noting that since he assumed office in May 2023, President Tinubu has pursued or secured multiple World Bank facilities and external loans running into several billions of dollars.
“Each time they want to borrow money, this government invents a new acronym. From ARMOR to RESET, HOPE, or SPIN, these are merely different labels for the same pretext to continue borrowing without any recourse to measurable impacts on the lives of Nigerians,” the party said.
It noted that the Tinubu government removed fuel subsidy, devalued the Naira, increased electricity tariffs, and imposed painful economic policies on citizens, with a promise that the temporary sacrifice would lead to long-term recovery.
“Some of the loans are ostensibly obtained to cushion the impacts of these harsh policies. Instead, Nigerians have continued to suffer one of the worst cost-of-living crises in recent history, while the government continues to pile on more debts,” ADC said.
According to him, a serious government borrows to build industries, stabilise power, create jobs, expand exports, improve transportation, and grow the economy in ways that citizens can feel.
It is regretted that despite the borrowings, Nigerians could not point to any measurable improvement in their daily lives that matches the scale of the debt being accumulated in their name.
