The presidential candidate of the Nigerian Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, has accused the administration of President Bola Tinubu of engaging in excessive borrowing without corresponding accountability and transparency in the utilisation of public funds.
In a statement on Tuesday, Obi described the government’s borrowing pattern as imprudent, alleging that Nigeria’s total public debt had risen to about N200 trillion under the current administration.
According to him, the debt stock has increased by more than N100 trillion in less than three years, a development he said far exceeded the pace of debt accumulation under former President Muhammadu Buhari.
Obi expressed concern over what he described as the government’s failure to provide adequate explanations on how borrowed funds were being deployed.
Citing data from the Federation’s Budget Office, he claimed that the Federal Government borrowed N11.89 trillion between January and September 2025, surpassing its planned borrowing target of N10.34 trillion by about N1.54 trillion.
He argued that in a transparent and accountable system, such a deviation from approved borrowing projections would attract scrutiny and detailed explanations from the relevant authorities.
The former Anambra State governor further alleged that only N3.10 trillion of the borrowed funds was applied to capital expenditure during the same period, representing 17.66 per cent of the N17.58 trillion budgeted for capital projects.
According to him, this left a funding gap of approximately N14.48 trillion, equivalent to 82.34 per cent of planned capital spending.
Obi said the most troubling aspect of the situation was the absence of information regarding the utilisation of the balance of the borrowed funds.
“The question Nigerians are rightly asking and deserve an answer to is what happened to the balance?” he said.
He called on the Federal Government to provide a comprehensive account of how the borrowed funds were spent, insisting that Nigerians deserve transparency in the management of the country’s resources and economy.
Obi maintained that prudent economic management, accountability and productive investments remain critical to addressing Nigeria’s economic challenges.
“A new and productive Nigeria is possible, and Nigeria will be OK,” he stated.