A review of data from the Debt Management Office (DMO) has revealed that Nigeria’s total public debt stock rose to ₦149.3 trillion as of March 31, 2025, up from ₦144.6 trillion recorded at the end of December 2024.
This marks an increase of ₦4.7 trillion in just three months, underscoring Nigeria’s continued reliance on borrowing despite earlier commitments by the Tinubu administration to reduce debt dependence.
According to the analysis, domestic debt grew significantly within the period, rising from ₦74.3 trillion in December 2024 to ₦78.7 trillion in March 2025, an increase of ₦4.4 trillion.
External debt also saw a slight rise, increasing by ₦350 billion from ₦70.28 trillion to ₦70.63 trillion over the same period.
Nigeria’s debt trajectory has followed an upward trend in recent times. The country’s total debt stock stood at ₦142 trillion in September 2024 and climbed to ₦144 trillion by December 2024, before hitting the new ₦149.3 trillion mark in March 2025.
A further breakdown from the DMO data showed that, as of September 2024, the Federal Government alone owed ₦69.2 trillion in domestic debt, while the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) collectively owed ₦4.2 trillion.
Comparatively, as of June 2024, Nigeria’s total public debt was ₦134.2 trillion, ₦63 trillion in external loans, and ₦71.2 trillion in domestic debt. The Federal Government was responsible for ₦66.9 trillion of the domestic debt, with the states accounting for ₦4.2 trillion.
This latest increase comes despite President Bola Tinubu’s public commitment to reduce Nigeria’s borrowing. In August 2023, while inaugurating the Presidential Committee on Tax Reforms, the President vowed to break the cycle of overreliance on debt for public expenditure.
The statement published on the State House website at the time read:
“President Bola Tinubu in Abuja expressed his resolute commitment to break the vicious cycle of overreliance on borrowing for public spending, and the resulting burden of debt servicing it places on the management of Nigeria’s limited government revenues.”
The steady rise in both domestic and external debt continues to raise concerns about Nigeria’s fiscal sustainability and the effectiveness of its revenue-generation and economic reform strategies.
