DMO Comes Clean on How Much of Nigeria's Debt President Tinubu Inherited
- The Debt Management Office has debunked media reports saying that President Tinubu inherited N21 trillion in public debt
- The DMO DG, Patience Oniha, noted that the numbers were inaccurate, saying that the debt as of May 29, 2023, was N87.38 trillion
- The body also gave a breakdown of the debt data it published on its site and insight into Nigeria's current debt profile
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Legit.ng journalist Ruth Okwumbu-Imafidon has over a decade of experience in business reporting across digital and mainstream media.
Nigeria’s Debt Management Office (DMO) has released details of President Bola Tinubu’s inherited debt.
According to the body, President Bola Tinubu did not inherit N21 trillion debt as has been reported by the media.
Source: Getty Images
In a press conference, the Director-General of the office, Patience Oniha, made this disclosure, saying that the actual inherited debt was N87 trillion.
She also reacted to a media report that claimed that President Tinubu’s administration took Nigeria’s public debt to N142 trillion from N21 trillion.
Oniha stated that the numbers were inaccurate, The Cable reported.
DMO breaks down Tinubu's inherited debt
In her statement, Oniha observed that the first published data on May 29, 2023, the day President Bola Tinubu assumed office, put the total public debt as N87.38 trillion, not the N23 trillion contained in the media report.
The statement read:
“The Debt Management Office (DMO) wishes to notify the general public that the news headline circulating in the media titled, “How Nigeria’s Debt Rose from N21 trillion to N142 trillion under Tinubu” is inaccurate.”
Providing further clarifications, she asked members of the public to be more attentive to details as the DMO publishes its data.
She stressed that the total public debt published in its data includes foreign and domestic debt owed by the federal government, and the 36 states, plus FCT.
Nigeria's public debt includes debt owed to several countries and organisations like China, France, IMF and the World Bank.
Nigeria’s debt to increase further, says DMO
Ms Oniha gave an insight into Nigeria's current debt profile, disclosing that the debt is set to increase given the recently issued $2.2 billion Eurobonds.
The bonds issued in December 2024 will significantly increase Nigeria's public debt, although she assured earlier that provisions have been made to service debt obligations.
As per the latest figures from the DMO, Nigeria's total Domestic debt at the end of Q3, 2024 was N73.4 trillion ($45.8 billion) while total external debt amountedN68.8 trillion ($43 billion).
Recall that experts predicted Nigeria's public debt to hit N150 trillion in 2025, with an average debt of N619,000 owed by each individual.
Nigeria's public debt hits N142 trillion
In related news, Legit.ng reported that Nigeria's public debt had hit N142.3 trillion by the end of Q3, 2024.
This figure is up by 5.97%, or N8.02 trillion, from the N134 trillion recorded by the end of the previous quarter.
The debt growth was caused by increased borrowings, as well as the naira depreciation in the global market.
Proofreading by Nkem Ikeke, journalist and copy editor at Legit.ng.
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Source: Legit.ng
