Nigeria’s debt stock hits N42trn, says DMO

With the additional N10 trillion from the Central Bank of Nigeria’s ways and means, the debt stock of Africa’s largest economy is now N42 trillion, Patience Oniha, director general of the Debt Management Office (DMO), said on Thursday.

Nigeria’s public debt stock stood at N32. 22trn as at September 30, 2020, according to the DMO.

Oniha, who disclosed this at a virtual stakeholders’ meeting, said the Office is in talks with the CBN to convert the N10 trillion ways and means to a 30-year facility.

“We have reached fairly advanced stage in the ways and means balances at the Central Bank,” Oniha said.

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Ways and means is the government overdraft facility with the Central Bank, which the DMO has been trying to manage for some time, she explained.

“I think from 2018 we actively started looking at it and we are at that point where all we need is to finalise one term with the CBN and we are good to implement. The figure we worked on is about N10 trillion and it is going to be added to the debt stock. So far it is not added. It is not like credit that we negotiated so it is an overdraft managed by the accountant general,” the DMO director-general said.

“So the process we are going through now will be structured. The offer we made to the CBN is to convert it to 30-year facility, you know, amortising. We will not have N10 trillion in one day to pay. So that will come unto the debt stock, that means if you add only that N10 trillion, we are already at N42 trillion using our September 2020 period. So that is another reason for the 40 percent debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP),” she said.

Hope Moses-Ashike

Hope Moses-Ashike is an Associate Editor, Banking and Finance, with more than a decade of experience reporting on Nigeria’s financial system and broader economy. She closely tracks market movements, monetary policy decisions, company disclosures, regulatory actions, economic indicators, and global developments, and interprets what they mean for businesses, investors, policymakers, and households. Her reporting helps readers understand complex issues such as inflation trends, foreign exchange market dynamics, interest rate decisions, bank performance, and investment risks. She also covers major international events and periodically travels to Washington, D.C., to report on the World Bank/IMF Spring and Annual Meetings. Her dedication to financial journalism has earned her multiple recognitions and invitations to high-level professional development programmes. She is an alumna of the International Visitors Leadership Programme (IVLP) in the United States and holds an Advanced Financial Journalism Certificate from the Press Association Training in London, UK. Her other notable achievements include completing the Lagos Business School CMC Programme, the Bloomberg Media Africa Initiative Programme, and a Master Class in Journalism at Rhodes University in South Africa.