President Bola Tinubu has revealed that Nigeria will spend an estimated $11.6 billion on debt servicing in 2026, warning that rising repayment obligations are limiting investments in key sectors of the economy.
The figure marks a sharp increase from the $5.21 billion reportedly spent on external debt servicing in 2025, according to data from the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Speaking at the Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi on Tuesday, Tinubu said nearly half of Nigeria’s projected revenue for 2026 would go towards servicing debt under the current global financial system.
According to a statement issued by presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga, the president said high debt servicing costs are depriving critical sectors of much-needed investment.
“Every single dollar that leaves our treasury to pay punitive interest rates is a dollar that did not go into our steel sector, our textile mills, our agro-processed, or our digital industries,” Tinubu said.
“It is a dollar that did not train a young Nigerian engineer or provide affordable power for our factories.”
The president argued that African countries continue to face unfair treatment in global finance, despite reforms and fiscal adjustments introduced by many governments across the continent.
“Our industrial base is being starved of the blood it needs – long-term, affordable finance – while creditors and rating agencies treat African sovereigns as permanent high-risk borrowers, regardless of our fiscal performance,” he stated.
Tinubu said the current international financial system is frustrating Africa’s industrialisation efforts by making access to affordable capital increasingly difficult.
“How can an African manufacturer compete with a competitor in Europe, Asia, or North America when the cost of borrowing in our nations is five to ten times higher?” he asked.
“How can we build cross-border industrial value chains under the African Continental Free Trade Area when our infrastructure projects face a financing gap deepened by the very institutions meant to bridge it?
“The answer is plain – we cannot. The international financial architecture, as currently constituted, is an instrument of industrial disarmament for Africa.”
The Nigerian leader also defended recent economic reforms introduced by his administration, describing them as “painful, homegrown decisions” aimed at stabilising the economy.
Tinubu listed the removal of petrol subsidies, exchange rate unification, banking recapitalisation, and Nigeria’s exit from the Financial Action Task Force grey list among the reforms implemented.
According to him, the measures have helped lower Nigeria’s debt-to-GDP ratio, projected at 32.3 per cent in 2026, while also boosting external reserves to $45.5 billion and improving investor confidence.
Tinubu added that Nigeria is not seeking charity from the international community but a fair financial system that supports industrialisation across Africa.
“We need a financial system that intentionally enables Africa to industrialise, to process its own minerals, refine its own crude oil, manufacture its own pharmaceuticals, and compete fairly in a global market,” he said.
