THE Chief Executive Officer of BudgIT, Seun Onigbinde, has warned that poorly taken loans are more dangerous than wasting public revenues.
Speaking on Friday’s edition of Channels Television Morning Brief, Onigbinde criticised the processes surrounding President Bola Tinubu’s fresh $516 million loan request, arguing that weak scrutiny by the National Assembly risked mortgaging the country’s future revenues.
The ICIR reported on Thursday, April 23, that Tinubu sought the Senate approval for the loan to support the Sokoto–Badagry Superhighway project.
He requested for the approval despite the current oil windfall for the Nigerian government, occasioned by the United States war in Iran and huge revenue accruing to the government’s coffers from the petrol subsidy removal.
The Federal Government had put the 2026 budget benchmark for crude at $64.85 per barrel, but Brent currently sells for $102.2 per barrel, according to data from oilprice.com.
Reacting to the development, the BudgIT CEO said on the TV programme, “No matter what interest rate, no matter the moratorium, at one point in time, you would have to pay back, and you will have to pay back with future revenue. So, you know, a poorly taken loan is so much more dangerous than wasting public revenues because you are literally averaging revenues that would come in the future at the end of the day.”
Tinubu had said the proposed facility sourced through a syndicated arrangement, led by Deutsche Bank, would finance Sections I, Phase IA and IB of the project, covering roughly 120 kilometres.
He explained that the request complied with Sections 16 and 21 of the Debt Management Office (DMO) Act governing public borrowing.
The loan request came barely 48 hours after the sack of the former Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, who, sources said, was not in support of frequent borrowings of the Tinubu administration.
Speaking further on Channels TV, Onigbinde stressed that borrowing decisions should undergo rigorous legislative and procedural checks before approval, warning that current practices fell short of expected standards.
“Before we even look at the propriety of the loan request…It’s unfortunate, I mean, to take a loan when procurement processes are not effective. And the National Assembly, there’s supposed to be the guardrail and the backstop to all of this. It’s also not standing up to its responsibility,” he added.
Onigbinde questioned the prioritisation of so-called “legacy projects,” citing ongoing infrastructure gaps across the country. He pointed to several incomplete road networks, arguing that the government should focus on finishing existing projects before embarking on new, capital-intensive ones funded by debt.
The BudgIT CEO also raised red flags over procurement practices tied to major infrastructure projects, including the Lagos-Calabar Coastal and the Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway, noting that the absence of transparent and competitive bidding processes undermined accountability and value for money.
He further criticised the legislature for failing to act as a safeguard against executive excesses, stressing that the constitutional role of the National Assembly is to serve as a guardrail in approving borrowing plans.
“The executive can propose anything…The framers of the constitution that said that the National Assembly should approve this funding, they were wise in their own ways because they understood that the executive could even choose to be exuberant, but the National Assembly should act as the buffer on all of these issues,” he added, warning that weak oversight could deepen Nigeria’s fiscal vulnerabilities.
Onigbinde remarks come amid growing public debate over Nigeria’s debt sustainability and the transparency of large-scale infrastructure financing, as the government continues to pursue ambitious development projects funded through external borrowing.
Last month, the president requested that the National Assembly approve a N9 trillion increase to the 2026 budget, alongside fresh external borrowing totaling $6 billion to support government spending, infrastructure, and debt obligations.
Nanji is an investigative journalist with the ICIR. She has years of experience in reporting and broadcasting human angle stories, gender inequalities, minority stories, and human rights issues. She has documented sexual war crimes in armed conflict, sex for grades in Nigerian Universities, harmful traditional practices and human trafficking.