The Presidency has defended Nigeria’s current borrowing levels, insisting that the country has not exceeded debt thresholds when compared with other developing economies such as Egypt, South Africa and Senegal.
Presidential spokesperson Bayo Onanuga made the clarification on Tuesday, May 26, in a post on X, amid growing public debate over Nigeria’s rising debt profile under President Bola Tinubu’s administration.
Onanuga maintained that Nigeria remains creditworthy and still has capacity to access additional loans for infrastructure development across key sectors of the economy.
“Nigeria has not over borrowed compared to countries like Egypt, South Africa and West African country of Senegal. Nigeria is credit worthy and can still take more loans to finance infrastructure.
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“The unwarranted alarm against loans is symptomatic of economic and financial ignorance,” he wrote.
His response followed a social media post by an X user, @Akinwumi, who argued that Nigeria’s debt-to-GDP ratio remains relatively lower than those of Egypt and South Africa.
The user further noted that borrowing, when directed toward infrastructure such as power, transport, telecommunications, railway modernisation, port reforms, agriculture and energy, should be viewed as long-term investment rather than a fiscal burden.
According to the argument, such investments have the potential to drive economic growth, improve productivity and support national development over time.
The exchange comes amid ongoing public scrutiny of Nigeria’s debt trajectory and government spending priorities, with analysts divided on the sustainability of continued borrowing.