The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Taiwo Oyedele, has defended President Bola Tinubu’s borrowing record, insisting that the administration has not borrowed anywhere near the ₦75 trillion to ₦80 trillion often attributed to it.
Speaking on Monday during a four-hour interactive session with the Senate Committee on Finance, chaired by Senator Sani Musa, Oyedele said the sharp rise in Nigeria’s public debt was largely driven by the naira’s exchange rate adjustment, the securitisation of inherited Ways and Means advances and the refinancing of maturing obligations, rather than fresh borrowing.
The meeting, attended by members of the country’s economic management team, focused on revenue generation, debt sustainability, budget implementation and the utilisation of import duty waivers.
Rejecting claims that the Tinubu administration had borrowed up to ₦80 trillion, Oyedele explained that external loans require National Assembly approval and that approved borrowing plans are often mistaken for actual borrowings.
“For external loans, we always require the approval of the National Assembly. What usually happens is that once the National Assembly approves a borrowing plan, many people interpret that as money already borrowed.
“We have not even taken half of what the National Assembly approved.”
He explained that more than ₦40 trillion of the increase in Nigeria’s debt stock resulted from the revaluation of existing foreign debt following the depreciation of the naira after exchange rate reforms, while another ₦33 trillion arose from the securitisation of Ways and Means advances inherited from the previous administration.
According to the minister:
“The actual amount this administration has borrowed is nowhere near what many people believe.
“Even for domestic borrowing, much of it is refinancing. Debt that was borrowed previously matures, and the government raises new debt to refinance it. That is not new borrowing.”
Addressing concerns over continued borrowing despite improved revenues, Oyedele said government expenditure still exceeded available income because of growing statutory obligations.
“If our expenditure requirement is N10 and our projected revenue is N6, we borrow N4. If revenue later increases to N7, we still need to borrow N3 because expenditure remains N10.”
He identified debt servicing, implementation of the new national minimum wage, public service salary adjustments, education financing through NELFUND and other statutory commitments as major spending pressures.
Highlighting improvements in the economy, Oyedele said reforms introduced over the past three years had stabilised the country’s macroeconomic fundamentals and restored investor confidence.
“Three years ago, our economy was on the brink of severe distress. Today, we have made significant progress.
“Macroeconomic fundamentals are improving, investor confidence has returned, fiscal revenues are increasing and the economy is better positioned for sustained domestic and external growth.
“These reforms were not easy, but they were necessary. Without them, it would have been almost impossible to stabilise the economy.”
The minister disclosed that Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 3.8 per cent in the first quarter of 2026, while tax collections reached ₦21.6 trillion between January and June, representing a 49 per cent increase over the corresponding period of 2025. He attributed the growth to tax reforms, improved digitalisation and stronger compliance.
“Allowing tax evasion to persist amounts to taxing honest taxpayers while rewarding non-compliance. That is not the kind of country we seek to build.”
Oyedele further disclosed that Nigeria’s external reserves had risen above 51 billion dollars—the highest level in 17 years—while inflation was beginning to moderate through coordinated fiscal and monetary policies.
He also defended the government’s tax incentives and import duty waivers, saying their fiscal cost had been exaggerated.
“We do not want to impose excessive taxes that would ultimately increase the prices of goods and services and make life more difficult than it already is.”
Earlier, Senate Committee Chairman, Senator Sani Musa, described the engagement as one of the most comprehensive interactions between lawmakers and the country’s economic managers. He said the committee would scrutinise Nigeria’s debt sustainability and investigate the utilisation of import duty waivers.
Musa also called for reforms to the nation’s budgeting framework, advocating a performance- and priority-based budgeting system.
“We also felt that what the National Assembly legislators and the executive need to look at is the budget framework itself because you can see so many line items that keep repeating every year, adding more pressure to the budget.
“Nations have been adopting performance and priority-based budgeting systems and it has been working for them.
“I strongly support that because I know it is good for Nigeria. All we need to do is scrutinise recurrent expenditure, scrutinise overhead costs, and manage our budget in a way that aligns spending with available revenue.
“The revenue-to-GDP ratio should reflect positively so that ordinary Nigerians can see tangible benefits.”
Meanwhile, Senate Chief Whip Tahir Monguno questioned why improved government revenues had not translated into better implementation of successive budgets.
“If revenue performance has improved so significantly, it appears inherently contradictory that the government is still struggling to implement the budget. Where is the revenue going?”
He warned that failure to implement an Appropriation Act amounted to a breach of the law.
“The dividends of democracy are delivered through the implementation of the budget, particularly capital projects. If the budget is not being implemented, then the fundamental purpose of government is undermined.
“For example, the security of lives and property is the primary responsibility of government. Yet all the security agencies that have appeared before this committee informed us that they have received zero capital releases.
“Why is the budget not being implemented? Failure to implement an Appropriation Act amounts to a breach of the law, and such a breach is an impeachable offence.”
Responding, Oyedele assured lawmakers that allocations by the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) were being made in accordance with constitutional and statutory provisions and pledged continued transparency in debt management and public expenditure.
