PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu has asked the House of Representatives to approve the implementation of an external borrowing plan worth about ₦10.8 trillion under the 2026 Appropriation Act.
The request seeks legislative approval for the Federal Government to raise the funds to finance projects captured in the 2026 budget.
Tinubu said the proposed borrowing would support infrastructure development and strengthen the macroeconomic gains recorded by his administration.
The request comes amid growing concerns over Nigeria’s rising debt profile and the government’s continued reliance on foreign loans despite increased revenue following the removal of petrol subsidy.
In October, the president sought the Senate’s approval to raise $7.7 billion, equivalent to approximately ₦10.79 trillion, to finance part of the 2026 budget deficit.
In a letter dated October 26, 2026, which Senate President Godswill Akpabio read during plenary on November 4, Tinubu said the 2026 Appropriation Act provided for ₦29.2 trillion in new borrowing to finance a budget deficit estimated at ₦31.4 trillion.
Under the borrowing plan, the Federal Government intended to raise ₦18.4 trillion from domestic sources and ₦10.79 trillion externally.
Tinubu proposed raising the external component through a combination of concessional and commercial loans from multilateral and bilateral institutions, bridge financing facilities and Eurobond issuance.
The Senate referred the request to its Committee on Local and Foreign Debt for consideration.
The request to the House of Representatives comes shortly after Tinubu also sought legislative approval for a supplementary external borrowing plan involving $20.52 billion and €1.05 billion to finance infrastructure and development projects across the country.
The president had defended his administration’s borrowing plans, arguing that Nigeria needs long-term investments in infrastructure to achieve its ambition of becoming a $1 trillion economy by 2030.
In a statement titled From Reforms to Delivery: Our Infrastructure Investment and Growth Strategy, Tinubu said the focus should be on the projects the loans would finance and the economic value they would create.
He listed the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway, Trans-Sahara Superhighway, electricity grid improvements and upgrades to major commercial ports in Lagos among the projects the government plans to fund.
He said the projects would connect economic regions, reduce transportation costs, support agricultural and industrial activities and attract private investment.
Tinubu also cited improvements in some economic indicators, including economic growth of 4.43 per cent in the second quarter of 2026 and a decline in headline inflation to 14.63 per cent in September from 20.98 per cent in the corresponding period of 2025.
He said Nigeria’s gross external reserves stood at $55.1 billion as of October 9, 2026, while the country’s tax-to-GDP ratio had increased to 12.5 per cent from seven per cent.
However, the president acknowledged the need to manage the country’s debt obligations, noting that public debt stood at 35.75 per cent of GDP in the second quarter of 2026, while debt servicing consumed about 65 per cent of government revenue in the first half of the year.
According to the Debt Management Office, Nigeria’s total public debt stood at ₦166.79 trillion as of June 30, 2026, comprising ₦91.59 trillion in domestic debt and ₦75.20 trillion in external obligations.
The figure represented an increase of ₦7.44 trillion from ₦159.35 trillion recorded at the end of March 2026.
The Federal Government accounted for ₦152.77 trillion of the total debt, while state governments and the Federal Capital Territory accounted for the remaining ₦14.01 trillion.
Mustapha Usman is an investigative journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: musman@icirnigeria.com. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M