Nigeria’s debt service to revenue reduced to 68% from 97% — Tinubu

Nigeria’s debt service to revenue has been reduced to 68 percent from 97 percent, says President Bola Tinubu in an address to the nation on Sunday.

“Coming from a place where our country spent 97% of all our revenue on debt service; we have been able to reduce that to 68% in the last 13 months,” Tinubu said.

“We have also cleared legitimate outstanding foreign exchange obligations of about $5billion without any adverse impact on our programmes,” he added, emphasising on no going back on reforms.

But this is in contrast to BusinessDay’s report stating that Nigeria’s debt service-to-revenue stood at 74.3 percent in the first quarter (Q1) of 2024, the lowest in five years.

Experts said the decrease was driven by naira devaluation/ exchange rate gains and partial petrol subsidy removal some 14 months ago.

The televised address follows a nationwide protest where thousands of Nigerians are demanding solutions to the cost of living crisis straining their incomes.

The protests, which erupted in major cities across the country on Thursday, have degenerated into violence, looting and clashes with security personnel, mostly in the north.

President Tinubu however called for an end to the planned 10-day long demonstration, noting that his government is committed to transforming the economy for the benefit of the people.

Tinubu stated that the various policies of his administration “has given us more financial freedom and the room to spend more money on you, our citizens, to fund essential social services like education and healthcare”.

He added that funds from the removal of fuel subsidy have been channeled to developmental projects, increasing allocations to states and local governments.

“We have also embarked on major infrastructure projects across the country. We are working to complete inherited projects critical to our economic prosperity, including roads, bridges, railways, power, and oil and gas developments,” the Nigerian leader said.