Nigeria’s Public Debt Hits N159.3trn

In dollar terms, Nigeria’s total public debt stood at $114.95 billion as of March 31, 2026, up from $97.24 billion recorded a year earlier.

Nigeria’s total public debt rose to N159.35 trillion as of March 31, 2026, representing a N9.96 trillion, or 6.7 per cent, increase from N149.39 trillion recorded in March 2025.

The Debt Management Office (DMO), in its latest public debt portfolio report, said the figure was, however, largely unchanged from the N159.28 trillion recorded at the end of December 2025.

On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the debt stock increased marginally by N75.51 billion, representing a 0.05 per cent rise.

Domestic debt accounted for N87.4 trillion, or 54.85 per cent of the total, while external debt stood at N71.95 trillion, representing 45.15 per cent.

The domestic component rose by N8.64 trillion, or 11 per cent, from N78.76 trillion recorded in March 2025. External debt also increased by N1.32 trillion, or 1.9 per cent, from N70.63 trillion during the same period.

Compared with December 2025, domestic debt increased by N2.55 trillion, or three per cent, from N84.85 trillion, while external debt declined by N2.48 trillion, or 3.3 per cent, from N74.43 trillion.

The DMO said the Federal Government accounted for N82.88 trillion of the domestic debt, while states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) accounted for N4.52 trillion.

In dollar terms, Nigeria’s total public debt stood at $114.95 billion as of March 31, 2026, up from $97.24 billion recorded a year earlier.

The DMO said the external debt was converted to naira using the Central Bank of Nigeria’s official exchange rate of N1,386.2156 to the dollar as of March 31.

Meanwhile, the National Assembly on March 31 approved President Bola Tinubu’s request to secure $6 billion in external borrowing, adding to the government’s ongoing efforts to finance its spending and development programmes.