The Truth About Tinubu's Borrowing That Nobody Wants to Hear

I have been seeing all these posts calling Bola Ahmed Tinubu Nigeria's biggest borrower since 1999, and I decided to check the actual numbers. The evidence is clear: between 2015 and 2023 under Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria's external debt jumped from about $10.3 billion to $42.9 billion, a net increase of roughly $32.6 billion. Under Tinubu from May 2023 to December 2025, it went from $42.5 billion to $51.9 billion, a net increase of about $9.4 billion. So who borrowed more?

Now I know what you are thinking — what about the naira figures that look so alarming? That is where the exchange rate unification of June 2023 comes in. The $42.5 billion Tinubu inherited was valued at around ₦19.6 trillion under the old rate, but after revaluation at market rates, the same stock appeared as ₦33.2 trillion. That is not new borrowing, that is accounting revaluation. The same thing happened with domestic debt, where ₦23.9 trillion in Ways and Means advances accumulated under Buhari got securitised and recognised on the balance sheet.

I am not saying Tinubu's government is perfect or that debt service is not choking us — it absolutely is, and that is the real problem. But we cannot keep spreading misinformation that does not match the facts. The central challenge is how inherited obligations and limited revenues constrain our development, not some false narrative about unprecedented borrowing. Be honest, did you know the dollar value of total public debt only rose by about $2.7 billion between Q1 2023 and Q4 2025? Let's argue this.