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| Photo Credit — President Bola Tinubu & Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar |
Former Vice President and African Democratic Congress presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar has called on the Federal Government to fully account for Nigeria’s current public debt stock before advancing talks on three new World Bank financing facilities totaling $1.5 billion.
The proposed package, detailed in World Bank project documents, consists of three $500 million credits. The most advanced is additional financing for the Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes (ACReSAL) project, scheduled for World Bank board consideration on 29 October 2026.
Approval would raise that project’s financing from $700 million to $1.2 billion. The remaining two facilities—one for early childhood development and one for household prosperity and social protection (HOPE-SP)—are currently projected for consideration in March 2027.
These discussions occur as Nigeria’s total public debt reached ₦166.79 trillion as of 30 June 2026, according to the Debt Management Office. That figure is ₦14.39 trillion (approximately 9.4 percent) higher than the ₦152.40 trillion recorded at the end of June 2025.
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In a statement released Monday through Phrank Shaibu, Director of Strategic Communications for his campaign, Atiku argued that the government should first publish clear details on how previously borrowed funds have been used and what measurable benefits they have delivered.
He called for disclosure of the specific projects to be funded by any new facilities, the communities expected to benefit, performance targets, borrowing and disbursement terms, and a public timetable for tracking results.
Atiku questioned the gap between official claims of higher revenue and savings from petrol subsidy removal and the continued rise in debt. “If more money is coming in, why does the debt keep climbing? If Nigerians have sacrificed so much, where are the results?” the statement asked.
He acknowledged that climate resilience, social protection, and early childhood development address real needs, but insisted that programme titles alone are insufficient. Results, he said, must be concrete: restored land and irrigation for climate projects, identifiable recipients and timelines for social protection, and measurable improvements in nutrition, health, and learning for early childhood programmes.
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Nigeria has received substantial World Bank support under the current administration, including a $1.5 billion Development Policy Financing programme approved in June 2024 together with a related $750 million resource mobilisation programme. The latest proposals remain subject to the Bank’s standard appraisal and approval process and should not be treated as funds already available to the government.
Atiku’s core demand is transparency on the debt already on Nigeria’s books and independent verification of outcomes from earlier borrowing, rather than simply the announcement of new programmes.
Samuel O. Sulaimon is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Naijapiz. He covers News, Sports, Finance, Faiths, Education, Technology.
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