Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abbas Tajudeen, has warned that Nigeria’s ballooning debt has crossed the country’s statutory threshold, threatening fiscal stability and future growth.
Opening the 11th Annual Conference of the West Africa Association of Public Accounts Committees (WAAPAC) in Abuja, Abbas revealed that Nigeria’s debt surged to N149.39 trillion (US$97bn) in Q1 2025, up from N121.7 trillion a year earlier. The debt-to-GDP ratio now stands at 52%, far above the 40% ceiling set by law.
“This is no longer just a budgetary concern but a structural crisis,” Abbas said, urging tougher oversight, transparency, and borrowing tied strictly to infrastructure, jobs, and poverty reduction.
He announced plans for a West African Parliamentary Debt Oversight Framework to harmonise debt reporting and strengthen scrutiny across the region.
The Speaker vowed that under the House’s Open Parliament policy, major borrowing proposals would face public hearings while simplified debt reports would be shared with citizens.