From Debts to Despair: Tinubu’s Economic Gamble and Nigeria’s Accelerating Collapse

(saharaweeklyng.com)

A nation sinking under the weight of borrowed promises in the past two years, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration has plunged Nigeria into a shocking spiral of DEBT ACCUMULATION, RECORD-INFLATION and WORSENING POVERTY, all while promising ECONOMIC-REBIRTH and STRUCTURAL REFORM, but the only thing Nigerians see today is HUNGER, JOBLESSNESS, MASS MIGRATION and an UNRELENTING COLLAPSE of public trust in governance

With billions of dollars borrowed across multiple financial institutions, the Nigerian masses are yet to feel the promised dividends of democracy. Instead, they are being crushed by unbearable taxes, collapsing infrastructure and an economy spinning wildly out of control.

Let us walk through the cold, hard figures of Tinubu’s borrowing spree and ask the most painful question of all: WHERE IS THE IMPACT ON THE AVERAGE NIGERIAN?

The Borrowing Breakdown, FACTS DO NOT LIE:

$750 million ¬ June 2023
World Bank loan for power sector reform. Nigerians still suffer epileptic power supply. Electricity tariffs have risen by over 300% for Band A consumers, yet darkness persists.

$800 million – July 2023
Conditional Cash Transfer loan to “CUSHION” fuel subsidy removal. A meager ₦8,000 per family, which most Nigerians never received. Who were the beneficiaries?

$7.4 billion + €100 million – December 2023
Multiple multilateral loans for so-called development and emergency financing. The public never saw the projects.

₦2.94 trillion – Domestic borrowing from July to December 2023.
Still, salaries were delayed and infrastructure projects remained abandoned.

₦6.53 trillion – Borrowed between December 2023 and March 2024.
Used to finance budget deficits that benefitted a bloated political class while the masses starved.

$2.7 billion – Spread across 2023–2024
From Afreximbank and others. Little to no transparency on disbursement or results.

$2.25 billion – June 2024
Claimed to support economic reforms. Meanwhile, youth unemployment hit 53.4%, according to NBS.

$500 million – July 2024
Aimed at tech and innovation. Nigerian universities are shut down due to strikes. How is innovation possible without education?

$1.57 billion – September 2024
Supposedly for infrastructure. Yet roads remain death traps.

$6.45 billion – Total World Bank loan by September 2024
Nigeria is now the fourth largest debtor to the World Bank, but we are still the poverty capital of the world.

$2.209 billion – December 2024 for budget deficit
Used to finance a budget that gives the presidency ₦15 billion for a presidential yacht and foreign travels.

$21.5 billion + €2.1 billion + ¥15 billion – July 2025
This staggering approval is perhaps the most terrifying. A clear indication that Nigeria is mortgaging its future to survive today.

Fuel Subsidy Gone, But Where is the Relief?
Tinubu’s first major policy move was removing fuel subsidy, which immediately triggered a tripling of fuel prices from ₦185 to over ₦800 per liter. THE LOGIC? To save FUNDS and REDIRECT to INFRASTRUCTURE.

“There is nothing smart about removing subsidy when you have no structure to mitigate the consequences.” ~ Dr. Doyin Salami, former Economic Adviser

Instead of building public transport, investing in refineries or subsidizing food production, the funds disappeared into opaque channels. The same administration now seeks to return to “FUEL IMPORT SUBSIDIES” through backdoor crude swaps.

Floating the Naira: A Currency Adrift. Another economic grenade was the floating of the naira, hailed by international financiers as “BOLD” but in practice, it was “SUICIDAL”. The naira fell from ₦460/$1 to over ₦1,700/$1 in just a year. This collapse has driven up the cost of IMPORTS, FOOD, RENT and HEALTHCARE. Inflation hit 34%, with food inflation soaring past 45% by mid-2025.

“Currency float without production base is economic suicide.” ~ Prof. Pat Utomi, Political Economist

Skyrocketing Tariffs, Crushing Taxes. Nigerians are paying more for less:
Electricity tariffs up by over 300%

VAT increased from 7.5% to 15%

Introduction of cybersecurity levy, stamp duties, telecom taxes and multiple bank charges.

RENT, SCHOOL FEES and FOOD COSTS out of control.

Yet real wages have remained stagnant. The minimum wage still lingers around ₦30,000 in many states; less than $25 monthly, and even the proposed ₦70,000 minimum wage is yet to be implemented by over 20 states.

POVERTY, HUNGER and INSECURITY: The Daily Reality. Despite all these DEBTS, POVERTY is DEEPENING:

133 million Nigerians are now classified as multidimensionally poor (NBS).

About 70% of Nigerians earn below ₦500/day.

Terror attacks, banditry and kidnapping have escalated. Over 3,000 abductions were recorded in the first half of 2025 alone.

Rather than investing in agriculture, education and industrialization, the government continues to borrow to pay salaries and fund luxuries for the political elite.

“You cannot borrow your way out of poverty. You must produce your way to prosperity.” — Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, WTO Director-General

Debt Servicing: Nigeria Works to Pay Lenders, Not Citizens. Today, 74.6% of Nigeria’s revenue goes to servicing debt, according to the Debt Management Office (DMO). That means only 25 kobo of every ₦1 earned by the government is left for development.

Nigeria is walking into a debt trap. Future generations will be saddled with paying for loans that built no schools, no roads, no hospitals; but only maintained a corrupt political class.

Who Truly Benefits?
A hard question that must be asked is: Who is benefiting from this borrowing?

Certainly not:
The civil servant who has not been paid in months.

The farmer displaced by herdsmen.

The graduate roaming streets jobless.

The mother who lost her child in a hospital that had no power or drugs.

Perhaps those who benefit are:
Foreign creditors enjoying high interest returns.

Politicians building private estates and flying private jets.

Contractors inflating project costs with zero delivery.

Parting Thoughts: We Are Not Fooled. This is not REFORM. This is ECONOMIC EXPLOITATION, FINANCIAL RECKLESSNESS and DELIBERATE IMPOVERISHMENT. Nigerians must not be gaslighted into believing that suffering is sacrifice. There is a difference between REFORM and RUIN.

“The test of leadership is not how much PAIN you can inflict on your people, but how much PROSPERITY you can create for them.” ~ George Omagbemi Sylvester

As patriotic citizens, we demand answers:
Where are the projects tied to each loan?

Why has poverty increased despite massive borrowing?

What is the plan to repay these debts without sacrificing national dignity?

Until TRANSPARENCY, FISCAL DISCIPLINE and TRUE PUBLIC ACCOUNTABILITY are restored, no amount of loan will save Nigeria.

About the Author:
George Omagbemi Sylvester is a journalist, political commentator, and advocate for accountable governance. He writes for SaharaWeeklyNG.com.