Former presidential candidate and Labour Party chieftain, Peter Obi, has raised the alarm over what he described as Nigeria's dangerously spiralling debt profile, warning that the country’s total public debt could exceed ₦200 trillion by the end of 2025.
Obi issued the warning via a statement on his official X (formerly Twitter) handle, just days after the Nigerian Senate approved another massive tranche of foreign and domestic borrowing for the 2025–2026 fiscal cycle. According to him, this unrestrained borrowing could cripple the nation’s economy, mortgage its future, and leave generations trapped in poverty.
He cited recent legislative approvals that include $21 billion, €2.2 billion, and ¥15 billion in external loans, along with a ₦750.98 billion domestic bond and a €65 million grant, all of which push Nigeria’s debt from ₦149.39 trillion in Q1 2025 to an estimated ₦187 trillion. With current projections, Obi warned, the figure may breach ₦200 trillion by year-end.
“We are accumulating exponential levels of unsustainable debt with little or nothing to show for it in critical areas such as education, healthcare, electricity generation, and security,” Obi said.
Obi, who governed Anambra State from 2006 to 2014, decried the lack of meaningful development despite ballooning loans. He said Nigeria’s pre-rebased GDP stood at ₦269.2 trillion (about $180 billion), placing its debt-to-GDP ratio at nearly 70%. Even after a recent GDP rebasing to ₦372.8 trillion (approx. $243.7 billion), the ratio remains alarmingly high at 50.16%—the highest in Nigeria’s history.
He also highlighted that Nigeria’s public debt grew ₦27.72 trillion year-on-year, and ₦4.72 trillion quarter-on-quarter, while sectors crucial to national development remain in disrepair.
Despite a surge in security spending—from ₦2.98 trillion in 2023 to ₦4.91 trillion in 2025—insecurity remains endemic, with 10,217 Nigerians killed and 672 villages razed over the past two years.
Obi further lamented the dismal state of infrastructure: out of Nigeria’s 195,000 km road network, over 135,000 km remain unpaved, while electricity generation still hovers below 5,000 megawatts for a population exceeding 200 million people.
He warned that the government’s continued reliance on borrowing without clear-cut strategies for economic growth, industrialisation, and human capital development could spell catastrophe for Nigeria's future.
“A nation that borrows for consumption, not production, is headed for disaster,” Obi concluded.