Nigeria’s next President would need to braze up for the great upheavals ahead as it has been projected that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari will be leaving behind a debt of N77 trillion.
According to official reports, it will be made up of N44.06 trillion total debt stock as of the third quarter of 2022, N22.7 trillion Ways and Means borrowed from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), projected new borrowings of N10.57 captured in the 2023 budget and issuance of promissory notes.
In her recent remark, Director General of the Debt Management Office (DMO), Patience Oniha, projected that this administration will be bequeathing a total national debt stock of about N77 trillion.
The DMO chief spoke at the “Public Presentation and Breakdown of the Highlights of the 2023 Appropriation Act” in Abuja.
She argued that if the National Assembly approves the securitisation of the N22.7 trillion Ways and Means debt secured from the CBN, the figure included in the public debt.
Oniha said “You will see a significant increase in public debt to N77 trillion that is if you add the new borrowing depending on market conditions of N5 trillion.
“The other area of the debt stock we are trying to highlight is to say, the debt stock is also growing from the issuance of promissory notes which are not true borrowing as such by the government”.
The DMO added that: “While the debt is growing because there is new borrowing, revenue is receiving significant attention.
“Like DMO always says, you can’t talk about debt without talking about revenue. We need the two to work together.”
While defending the President Muhammadu Buhari’s request to the National Assembly to approve the securitisation of the N22.7 trillion Ways and Means borrowed from the CBN, Ms Oniha said that it “would significantly reduce the cost of servicing the loan”.
