Only a few months ago, the President himself declared that Nigeria had met and surpassed its non-oil revenue targets, generating N20.59 trillion in just the first eight months of 2025, a figure his media handlers and cabinet officials paraded as proof of sound economic management. Not long before that, the administration also promised Nigerians that domestic borrowing would be phased out, and that revenue growth would reduce the need to mortgage the nation’s future.

“Yet here we are again, watching this government take a contradictory and irresponsible detour from its own stated policy direction.

As recently reported, if all of President Tinubu’s loan requests for 2025 are approved and disbursed, Nigeria’s total public debt could increase by N40.61 trillion, bringing the national debt stock to a staggering N193 trillion. This projection, based on verified figures from the Debt Management Office, reveals that as of June 30, 2025, Nigeria’s debt already stood at N152.4 trillion, with N80.55 trillion in domestic debt and N71.85 trillion in external liabilities.

Let it be clearly stated: this is reckless debt accumulation wrapped in propaganda.

“A government that claims to have hit record-breaking revenue should not be borrowing. A government that promised an end to domestic loans should not be submitting back-to-back loan requests totaling trillions of naira. The APC-led government is suffering from a worsening case of economic policy schizophrenia, where the left hand borrows blindly while the right hand issues press statements about “fiscal prudence.”

To add insult to injury, these loans are being pushed through by the APC-dominated National Assembly while everyday Nigerians are suffering from the rising cost of living. The Tinubu administration claims that headline inflation has dropped to 18.02 percent, and food inflation to 16.87 percent as of September 2025. Yet, in the open markets across the country, everything has become more expensive since Tinubu came into office. Make no mistake, Nigerians are not experiencing statistical relief — they are experiencing economic suffocation.

President Tinubu must come clean to the Nigerian people. You cannot claim that your house is in order while taking new loans to stop the roof from collapsing. You cannot say revenue has improved and still insist on borrowing more than any administration in Nigeria’s history.

“As a responsible party, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) therefore calls on civil society organisations, the international financial community, and the Nigerian people to demand the following from President Tinubu:

“First, an immediate freeze on non-critical new loan approvals. Second, a full publication of all revenue inflows and debt disbursements for 2025.
Third, an independent verification of non-oil revenue claims. Fourth, a legally binding debt ceiling to prevent this abuse of the national purse.

Nigerians are watching as our collective future is being mortgaged. And the President must be reminded: we cannot borrow our way out of a crisis that is fuelled by economic incompetence.”