The $6 Billion External Loan Request And The Critical Issues In The Tinubu’s Unbridled Loan Appetite -By Hajia Hadiza Mohammed

On the 31st day of March 2026, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu sent two letters of loan request to the National Assembly (NASS) to borrow $6 billion dollars broken down as follows: $5 billion from First Abu Dhabi Bank, and an additional $1 billion from UK Export Finance loan facility from Citi Bank London. The external loans requests were ostensibly for infrastructure, debt servicing, to address budgetary gaps and to rehabilitate key port infrastructure including Lagos Port Complex and Tin Can Island Port. The two letters were read at the plenary session and then, approximately four hours after those letters were read, Senator Aliyu Wamakko, the Chairman Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debts, presented his report. The Senate considered it and gave express approval.

This is worrisome and terrifying. Available records show that Nigeria’s external debt burden is very high. I do not intend to bore you with statistics because the figures are there in the public domain for everyone who cares to see. What Tinubu’s government has borrowed in less than 3 years is much more than what Mohammadu Buhari’s borrowed in 8 years. Tinubu has borrowed much more than any government in the history of this country and yet there is nothing visible to show for it. And while he is accumulating debt for the country, bastardizing the economy, his praise singers and propagandists are shouting reform, reform. Every year trillions of Naira are budgeted for security, infrastructure and social services without result. The economy remains in a comatose state with deteriorating exchange rate, domestic price instability, decaying infrastructure and worsening unemployment situation.

Unfortunately, the government of Tinubu appears unperturbed about the intractable problems confronting the nation neither is the tenth senate under Godswill Akpabio but it is swift at borrowing for frivolous reasons. And, I must state here that Tinubu’s penchant for loans and primitive accumulation portends one of the greatest danger to Nigeria’s economy. He is not only eating our wealth of today but that of generations yet unborn.

But, the pertinent question here is: Why is the government of Tinubu still borrowing? Tinubu government claims that his reforms are yielding fruits and that the economy is growing. Indeed, it sounds rather contradictory that Tinubu has continued to borrow despite claims of increased revenue generation, tremendous increase in tax yield and increase in the price of oil in the international market. He has removed subsidy on petroleum products and saved the so-called subsidy money and yet he is still borrowing. Why did he not plough back the said trillions saved from the subsidy removal into financing budget deficit, critical infrastructure and essential services. Why the resort to borrowing at every turn? The answer undoubtedly is failure of governance.

And, when examined critically, there are many issues that could be identified in the Tinubu’s high appetite for borrowing. The number one issue is that the government is not truthful about the state of the economy and its so-called reform programs. Those managing the economy are obviously overwhelmed by the complexity of the structure and challenges of the economy. It seems that they have no relevant tools or the will to plan for the development of the economy and so have resorted to trial and error, borrowing at will to make up for its failures while they sell the narratives of reforms to the public.

The second reason is that the Tinubu’s government is profligate with public funds. The government is obviously wasteful. From the jumbo cabinet to inflated contracts and misplaced priorities, the story is about the government wasting tax-payers’ funds on frivolities. Closely related to this is the high level of corruption and embezzlement of public funds that is prevalent in Tinubu’s regime. In this regime there are reported cases of wide scale corruption but the anti-graft agencies are only interested in pursuing the perceived enemies of the president and members of the opposition.

In the fourth place, there is the issue of government’s insensitivity and carelessness in the handling the affairs of the nation. A government that is alive to its responsibility will get its priorities right and invest in the programs and projects that will development economy and be beneficial to the citizenry. It will not borrow funds and spend it on frivolities and mortgage the future of generations yet unborn.

Another reason that whets Tinubu’s appetite for debt accumulation is the near-absence of checks and balances in the appropriation of public funds. There is no checks and balances because the Senate has subordinated its powers to the presidency. It is now an extension of it and its official rubber stamp. Every bill, request or nominee from the presidency must be approved as a matter of urgency no matter how hideous it is. When the history of the legislature in this country is written, the tenth Senate led by Godswill Akpabio will go down as the most compromised.

Added to these is the problem lack of transparency and accountability. The government is never accountable because the institutions and the organs that will perform these functions are compromised. The opposition is weakened, the pressure groups are settled. Worse still, the Nigerian masses out of ignorance and adverse socio-economic factors do not hold their leaders accountable. In fact they defend and celebrate their corrupt leaders.

Hajia Hadiza Mohammed
hajiahadizamohammed@gmail.com
An actress, social activist, politician
London, UK