The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has accused President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration of “reckless and contradictory” borrowing following the National Assembly’s approval of ₦1.15 trillion in fresh domestic debt to finance part of the 2025 budget deficit.
In a strongly worded statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, the opposition party said the new loan request exposes what it described as “the dangerous fiscal trajectory” of the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led government.
“The latest approval by the National Assembly of ₦1.15 trillion in fresh domestic borrowing by the APC-led Federal Government exposes the contradictions and dangerous fiscal trajectory of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration,” Abdullahi said.
The ADC recalled that President Tinubu had only months ago announced that Nigeria had met and exceeded its non-oil revenue targets, a development the party noted should ordinarily reduce reliance on borrowing. “Yet here we are again, watching this government take a contradictory and irresponsible detour from its own stated policy direction,” Abdullahi added.
According to the party, if all of the President’s borrowing requests for 2025 are approved, Nigeria’s total public debt could rise by ₦40.61 trillion to reach an estimated ₦193 trillion. The ADC said these figures were drawn from verified data provided by the Debt Management Office (DMO).
“A government that claims to have hit record-breaking revenue should not be borrowing. 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,” the statement said.
The ADC further criticised the government for worsening Nigeria’s debt crisis at a time when citizens are grappling with intense hardship, inflation, and rising living costs. “Make no mistake, Nigerians are not experiencing statistical relief — they are experiencing economic suffocation,” it added.
The party called for urgent fiscal discipline and greater transparency in the management of public funds. It urged civil society organisations, international financial partners, and citizens to demand:
- A freeze on non-essential borrowing
- Full disclosure of all 2025 revenue inflows and government disbursements
- The creation of a legally binding national debt ceiling to prevent “further abuse of the national purse”
“President Tinubu must come clean to the Nigerian people. You cannot say revenue has improved and still insist on borrowing more than any administration in Nigeria’s history,” the ADC said.
The Senate had on Wednesday approved the President’s request to raise ₦1.15 trillion in domestic debt, completing the government’s deficit-financing plans for the 2025 fiscal year.
