In Seven Years, Nigeria’s Debt Exceeds Revenue By N13tn

By Clement Alphonsus
Patience Oniha
Patience Oniha

According to findings, in seven years, Nigeria’s total debt outweighed the revenue generated by the Federal Government by N13.26tn.

The findings were based on data from the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Debt Management Office.

It was learnt that the Federal Government recorded revenue of N43.06tn between 2016 and 2022 as the country borrowed N56.32tn within the same period.

As of December 2015, Nigeria’s total public debt was N12.6tn, but this grew by N33.65tn to N46.25tn by December 2022.

The Federal Government earned N3.18tn in 2016, N3.62tn in 2017, N3.88tn in 2018, and N4.69tn in 2019.

The Federal Government also made N4.02tn in 2020, N4.4tn in 2021, and N5.06tn in 2022.

Recently it was reported that the total budget deficit under the former president, Muhammadu Buhari, was set to hit N47.43tn, according to an analysis of the Federal Government’s data from the Budget Office of the Federation.

According to data, deficit financing has risen by 370.54 per cent from N2.41tn in 2016 to N11.34tn in 2023.

In January this year, it was reported that the Federal Government recorded a revenue shortfall of N14.28tn under the administration of the former president, Muhammadu Buhari, according to data from the Budget Office of the Federation.

The revenue shortfalls raised concerns by the former Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, over the government’s inability to generate adequate revenue.

Furthermore, while discussing about the implementation of the 2022 budget, Ahmed said, “The full implementation of the 2022 budget is challenged particularly by oil revenues that are falling target at 27.1 per cent as of August.

“Crude oil production challenges and PMS subsidy deductions by the NNPC constitute a significant threat to the achievement of our revenue growth target as seen in the oil and gas performance 2022 as of August.”

It was further reported that the Federal Government borrowed N6.07tn from the CBN through Ways and Means Advances in 2022. This pushed the Federal Government’s borrowing from the CBN from N17.46tn in December 2021 to N23.53tn in December 2022.