Akpabio Gives Senate Panel, One Week to Treat Tinubu’s Fresh $2.3bn Foreign Loan Request

Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

The President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, yesterday read President Bola Tinubu’s letter, seeking the red chamber’s approval for a fresh $2.3 billion external loan to finance part of the N54.99 trillion 2025 Appropriation Act.

The Senate President referred the communication to the Committee on Local and Foreign Debt to work on within a week and submit its report within one week.

The Senate is expected to consider the president’s latest loan request next week after receiving the report from the Committee on Local and Foreign Debt.

The development came just four months after securing a separate round of international borrowings.

Tinubu, in the letter, explained that the loan request had been approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and was made in line with the provisions of Sections 21(1) and 27(1) of the Debt Management Office (DMO) Act.

According to him, the funds would be raised through Eurobond issuance, bridge finance facilities, loan syndication, or direct borrowing from international financial institutions.

The president wrote: “To raise external capital in the sum of USD2,347,465,000.00 comprised of new external borrowing in the 2025 Appropriation Act (USD1,229,113,000.00) and refinancing of maturing Eurobonds (USD1,118,352,000.00) through any of the following: issuance of Eurobonds, bridge finance facilities from bookrunners, loan syndication, or direct borrowing from international financial institutions.

A similar correspondence was also transmitted to the House of Representatives, where Speaker Tajudeen Abbas read it at Tuesday’s plenary.

After reading the letter, Akpabio referred the request to the Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debt for further scrutiny and directed the committee to report back within one week.

The latest borrowing request comes barely four months after President Tinubu sought legislative approval to obtain $21.5 million and ¥15 billion in loans, as well as a €65 million grant, under the government’s 2025–2026 external borrowing plan.

Nigeria’s rising public debt continues to draw concern among economists and fiscal policy experts.

According to the Debt Management Office (DMO), as of December 31, 2024, the country’s total public debt stood at N144.7 trillion (about $94.2 billion), made up of N74.4 trillion domestic debt (51.4%) and N70.3 trillion external debt (48.6%).

The burden of debt servicing has also escalated sharply. In 2023, Nigeria spent N7.8 trillion on debt service—a 121 per cent increase over the N3.52 trillion expended in 2022.

The figure rose further to N13.12 trillion in 2024, marking a 68 per cent year-on-year jump.

Fiscal analysts warn that this trend is squeezing resources available for critical sectors such as infrastructure, health, and education, thereby posing risks to long-term economic growth and social stability.

Despite public unease over the country’s ballooning debt profile, the Tinubu administration insists that borrowing remains a necessary tool for financing national development, given dwindling domestic revenues.

The president has repeatedly defended his borrowing stance, arguing that it is driven by the need to revamp decaying infrastructure rather than to impose hardship on citizens.