Nigeria’s public debt climbs to N82trn after naira unification

By Sodiq Adelakun

Following the unification of the naira, Nigeria’s total public debt rose by fiat to N82 trillion. It was N73 trillion before the unification.

Recall that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) issued a statement titled Operational Changes to the Foreign Exchange Market, signaling a unification of the multiple exchange rates.

This according to the instruction of the President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu who first announced this as a policy change in his inauguration broadcast.

However, the implementation of the scheme which saw the exchange rate first depreciate to N662/$1 attracts several consequences for the economy one of which includes the automatic increase of the public debt.

Though, the nation’s public debt was quoted at N448.50/$1 by the Debt Management Office as the official exchange rate but this has now been depreciated to N662/$1.

It was gathered that the increase was due to the conversion of the dollar portion of the debt which is estimated at about $41.6 billion. When adjusted for the most recent exchange rate it converts to N27.6 trillion.

The naira portion of Nigeria’s public debt is about N54.3 trillion and it includes Ways and Means which estimates at about N26.8 trillion.