Dare Babalola
Presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, on Tuesday took to X (formerly Twitter) to defend Nigeria’s borrowing profile, insisting that the country is not “over-borrowed” when compared with several other economies.
Onanuga argued that Nigeria remains creditworthy and still has room to access loans for infrastructure development, describing public concerns over rising debt as “unwarranted alarm” driven by what he called “economic and financial ignorance.”
His remarks were in response to a detailed post by a social media user, Akinwunmi, who compared debt-to-GDP ratios across selected countries and argued that Nigeria’s debt burden remains relatively low.
In the post, Akinwunmi claimed that Egypt has a total debt exceeding $400 billion against a GDP of about $390 billion, placing its debt-to-GDP ratio above 100 percent. He also stated that South Africa carries about $580 billion in debt with a GDP of roughly $420 billion, translating to about 135 percent debt-to-GDP.
By comparison, he estimated Nigeria’s total public debt at about $110 billion against a GDP of around $340 billion, or roughly 35 percent debt-to-GDP. He argued that despite these figures, Nigeria is often wrongly labelled as a “loan capital of the world.”
The post further criticised what it described as inconsistent public attitudes toward borrowing, listing infrastructure and development projects such as roads, power, rail, airports, seaports, dams, agriculture, internet expansion, and solar energy as areas often opposed by critics of government borrowing.
It also argued that the effectiveness of loans depends on their use, stating that borrowing for productive infrastructure could strengthen long-term economic growth and national assets.
Onanuga, in his reaction, aligned with the broader argument that borrowing, when directed toward infrastructure and productivity-enhancing projects, is a normal feature of economic development. He also reiterated that the administration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu remains focused on infrastructure-driven growth and improving national productivity.
The exchange has continued to generate discussion online, particularly around Nigeria’s debt sustainability and the broader debate over government borrowing for development projects.
