By Omeiza Ajayi
ABUJA: Presidential Candidate of the African Democratic Congress ADC, Atiku Abubakar, has accused the Federal Government of reckless borrowing despite a windfall in oil revenue, saying the administration of President Bola Tinubu has continued to pile up domestic debts at a time crude oil prices have soared well above the benchmark used for the 2026 budget.
In a statement issued by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, the former vice president said it was troubling that the government would borrow ₦24.7 trillion domestically between January and August 2026 even as it enjoys higher earnings from crude sales.
He described the scale of the borrowing as unprecedented, noting that it represented a 90.5 per cent increase over what was borrowed in the same period of 2025.
“At the beginning of this fiscal year, the Federal Government budgeted on an oil benchmark of $64.85 per barrel. Today, crude oil prices have risen substantially above that benchmark.
“Yet, instead of this windfall translating into lower borrowing, stronger businesses and relief for Nigerians, the Federal Government went into the domestic market and borrowed a staggering ₦24.7 trillion between January and August 2026 — 90.5 per cent more than the ₦12.98 trillion borrowed in the corresponding period of 2025.
“This is not fiscal management. This is a government borrowing like drunken sailors in the middle of a revenue windfall”, he said.
The former vice president argued that the various reform measures introduced by the Tinubu administration, including the removal of the petrol subsidy and the floating of the naira, ought to have eased pressure on government finances rather than deepened dependence on borrowing.
“So the question Nigerians must ask again is very simple: where is the money going?
“What makes this recklessness even more damaging is that government is now competing directly with Nigerian businesses for money. Credit to government grew by 43 per cent, while credit to the private sector grew by only 9.6 per cent. Government credit is expanding about 4.5 times faster than credit to businesses.
“This is yet another troubling signal that the Tinubu economic reforms have failed to produce any meaningful impact on the private sector”, he said.
He said the performance of the private sector remained one of the most reliable measures of whether government economic policy was working, adding that the opposite trend was playing out under the current administration.
“But under Tinubu’s economic policy, the exact opposite is happening. The public sector is exerting an increasingly parasitic effect on the private sector — consuming the credit, capital and financial oxygen that productive businesses desperately need.
“That, at a glance, is one of the clearest indictments of the failure of these so-called reforms”, he added.
According to him, the pattern of government borrowing at attractive, risk-free rates left commercial banks with little incentive to extend affordable credit to manufacturers, farmers and entrepreneurs across the country.
“The result is obvious: businesses pay more for credit, expansion is postponed, factories struggle, jobs disappear and the cost of producing everything from food to household goods rises.
“This government is not merely borrowing money; it is borrowing away the future of Nigerian businesses.
“Nigeria cannot achieve prosperity by allowing government to swallow the credit that should finance production. An economy grows when businesses borrow to build factories, farmers borrow to expand production and entrepreneurs access affordable capital to create jobs — not when government becomes the biggest and most voracious customer in the banking hall.
“My administration will impose fiscal discipline, cut waste, prioritise productive expenditure and progressively reduce government’s suffocating dependence on the domestic credit market.
“Government must make room for the private sector to breathe, invest, produce and employ”, he stated.
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