N149.39trn Debt: Akpabio, Abbas Warn Against Unchecked Borrowing

The National Assembly (NASS) has warned that if not checked, Nigeria’s nationalist indebtedness profile, which totalled N149.39 trillion (US$97 billion) successful the archetypal 4th of 2025, portends information for the future.

Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Abbas Tajudeen, issued the informing astatine yesterday’s 11th Annual Conference and General Assembly of the West Africa Association of Public Accounts Committees (WAAPAC) successful Abuja.

The league is hosted by the House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee with the theme: “Strengthening Parliamentary Oversight of Public Debt.”

Akpabio, represented by Senator Osita Izunaso, the president of the Senate Committee connected Capital Market, said unchecked indebtedness could owe citizens’ aboriginal and undermine ideology crossed the West African subregion.

He said parliamentary oversight is indispensable to fiscal stableness and that erstwhile indebtedness is good managed, it serves arsenic a strategical instrumentality for financing infrastructure, maturation and sustainable development.

Akpabio urged each WAAPAC-member nations to supply legislative oregon law authorization for the applicable committees, saying this would warrant their independency and effectiveness successful protecting nationalist resources.

“Public debt, erstwhile decently managed, is simply a strategical instrumentality for financing growth, infrastructure, and sustainable development. However, erstwhile near unchecked oregon shrouded successful opacity, it becomes a load that mortgages the aboriginal of our citizens. This is wherefore parliamentary oversight is indispensable.

“The Nigerian acquisition has shown that erstwhile parliamentary committees are empowered by law, transparency is deepened, fiscal work is strengthened, and ideology is enriched,” helium said.

For his part, Abbas warned that Nigeria’s indebtedness illustration has reached a captious level and urged parliaments crossed West Africa to fortify oversight of nationalist borrowing to safeguard the aboriginal of their citizens.

Represented by the House leader, Hon. Julius Ihonvbhere, Abbas disclosed that Nigeria’s full nationalist indebtedness stood astatine N149.39 trillion (about US$97 billion) successful the archetypal 4th of 2025, indicating a crisp emergence from N121.7 trillion the erstwhile year.

He expressed interest implicit the debt-to-GDP ratio, which astatine contiguous stood astatine astir 52 per cent, good supra the statutory ceiling of 40 per cent acceptable by extant laws.

“This breach of our indebtedness bounds signals the strain connected fiscal sustainability. It highlights the urgent request for stronger oversight, transparent borrowing practices, and a corporate resoluteness to guarantee that tangible economical and societal returns lucifer each Naira borrowed.

“Across Africa, indebtedness levels person reached alarming proportions. By 2022, the continent’s full nationalist indebtedness had reached US$1.8 trillion, with outer indebtedness unsocial expected to surpass US$1 trillion by 2023.

“Several countries are present successful unsafe debt-to-GDP territory: Sudan astatine 344 percent, Angola astatine 136.8 percent, Ghana astatine 84 percent, Kenya astatine astir 70 percent, and South Africa supra 77 percent,” Abbas said.

The talker noted that crossed Africa, indebtedness has go a structural situation arsenic respective countries walk much connected servicing loans than connected healthcare and different indispensable services.

According to him, 35 percent is owed to Western backstage lenders, 39 percent to multilateral institutions similar the IMF and World Bank, 13 percent to bilateral creditors and 12 percent to China.

Abbas said Nigeria is committed to championing the constitution of a West African Parliamentary Debt Oversight Framework nether WAAPAC to harmonise indebtedness reporting, make determination standards for transparency, and empower legislatures with timely information for effectual scrutiny.

“It is besides important to accent that effectual oversight of nationalist indebtedness requires vigilance, knowledge, and organization strength. As already noted, indebtedness levels successful Africa are rising astatine a gait that compels america to enactment with foresight,” helium added.

In his remarks, the curate of Finance and coordinating curate of the Economy, Wale Edun, said the national government’s bold economical reforms were yielding results with indebtedness levels becoming much sustainable and investors’ assurance returning.

“The Nigerian system is turning the corner. The reforms are delivering measurable interaction successful presumption of capitalist confidence, successful presumption of little spending of substance imports, greater vigor self-sufficiency and worth added. By adjacent year, we expect to person 1.2 cardinal barrels per time refining capacity,” Edun said.

He disclosed that Nigeria’s indebtedness service-to-revenue ratio had dropped to astir 60 percent successful 2024, portion the debt-to-GDP ratio stands astatine 38.8 percent, saying it is simply a comfy level compared to planetary benchmarks.

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