Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), has criticised the administration of President Bola Tinubu over what he described as excessive borrowing despite significant growth in government revenue.
In a post on X on Wednesday, the former Anambra governor said it was troubling that Nigeria’s debt profile had continued to rise even as government earnings more than doubled under the current administration.
Obi noted that the president recently cited an increase in government revenue from N16.8 trillion in 2022 to N35 trillion in 2025 as one of the achievements of his administration.
According to him, the growth in revenue should ordinarily have reduced the government’s reliance on borrowing.
“Shockingly, while Nigerians expected a reduction in borrowing with the exponential increase in revenue, the opposite is the case,” Obi said.
“In just three years, President Bola Tinubu’s government seems to be obsessed with excessive and imprudent borrowing, with our total debt currently about N200 trillion — a deeply disturbing increase of over N100 trillion.
“In addition to the exponential increases in both revenue and debt, it is also important to note that Nigeria has earned far more than the budget revenue targets due to global and regional geoeconomic and political tensions.”
THE UNFAVOURABLE SOCIAL-ECONOMIC INDICATORS
Obi further claimed that key socio-economic indicators had worsened since 2023 despite the increase in revenue and borrowing.
“Multi-dimensional poverty has increased from 87 million people in 2023 to over 140 million people in 2025,” he said.
He also said that rising unemployment and a decline in gross domestic product (GDP) per capita were evidence that ordinary Nigerians had yet to benefit from the administration’s economic policies.
“Just more and more hardship for Nigerians,” he said.
“The question Nigerians and even the international community are asking is: ‘Where did all the money go?’”
Obi called on the federal government to provide a transparent account of how public revenues and borrowed funds have been utilised since 2023.
“Nigerians deserve a detailed and transparent explanation of what happened to our economy and financial resources since 2023, and a stop to the imprudent, unaccountable and opaque management of our common patrimony,” he said.
