Nigeria's debt breaches statutory ceiling, poses structural crisis — Reps Speaker warns

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abbas Tajudeen, has raised a stark warning over Nigeria’s ballooning public debt, declaring that it has breached the nation’s statutory borrowing limit and now poses a “structural crisis” to fiscal stability.

Addressing participants at the 11th Annual Conference of the West Africa Association of Public Accounts Committees (WAAPAC), Abbas disclosed that Nigeria’s total public debt stood at N149.39 trillion (around $97 billion) in the first quarter of 2025, up sharply from N121.7 trillion recorded the previous year.

“Even more troubling is the debt-to-GDP ratio, which has risen to about 52 percent, far above the 40 percent ceiling set by our own laws,” the Speaker noted. He described the overrun as a stark “indicator of pressure on fiscal sustainability” and pressed for sweeping reforms in national borrowing practices and legislative oversight.

Abbas drew attention to the wider African picture, stressing that many countries are already in “dangerous debt-to-GDP territories,” with loan servicing swallowing more government revenue than is available for critical needs such as healthcare.

He cautioned that “reckless debt that fuels consumption or corruption must be exposed and rejected,” insisting that borrowing should be directed into productive investments, particularly infrastructure, health, and education.

As part of efforts to confront these mounting fiscal dangers, Abbas announced that Nigeria would spearhead the creation of a West African Parliamentary Debt Oversight Framework under WAAPAC.

The initiative is designed to standardise debt reporting, enforce transparency benchmarks across the sub-region, and equip parliaments with tools to better assess fiscal risks.

Reaffirming the 10th House’s pledge to openness, Abbas said the legislature’s Open Parliament policy would subject major borrowing plans to public hearings, while also providing simplified debt reports for citizens.

The conference, themed “Strengthening Parliamentary Oversight of Public Debt: The Role of Finance and Public Accounts Committees”, gathered parliamentarians and financial experts from across the region to discuss a joint strategy for safeguarding fiscal responsibility.