Nigeria’s public debt increased by 48.58 percent to N144.67 trillion as of December 2024 from N97.34 trillion recorded at the end of 2023.
Nigeria’s Debt Management Office disclosed this in its latest report on the country’s public debt profile.
Further analysis showed that Nigeria’s public debt surged by N47.32 trillion on a year-on-year basis.
The report also revealed a quarter-on-quarter rise of 1.65 percent from the N142.32 trillion recorded at the end of September 2024, which indicates that the country’s debt profile has been on a steady rise.
The rise in the debt profile of Africa’s most populous nation is mainly driven by external and domestic borrowing.
External debt rose by 83.89 percent to N70.29 trillion in December from 38.22 trillion in the same period in 2023.
Similarly, domestic debt rose by 25.77 percent to N74.38 trillion in December 2024 from 59.12 trillion at the end of December in 2023.
Accordingly, further breakdown of external debt shows that the federal government accounted for N62.92 trillion ($40.98 billion), while states and the FCT held N7.37 trillion ($4.80 billion).
In the domestic debt segment, the federal government held N70.41 trillion ($45.86 billion), with states and the FCT accounting for N3.97 trillion ($2.58 billion).
The increase in Nigeria’s debt profile has raised concerns among financial experts.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Centre for Promotion of Private Enterprises, Dr. Muda Yusuf, criticised the rising debt rise in Nigeria despite the huge infrastructural deficit.