ADC Candidate Asks Tinubu to Clarify ₦166.79trn Debt Ahead of Fresh $1.5bn World Bank Credit

Atiku Abubakar, the African Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate, on Monday, September 28, 2026, urged President Bola Tinubu to provide a full account of Nigeria's ₦166.79 trillion public debt before the country secures a fresh $1.5 billion loan from the World Bank. Atiku, in a statement released by Phrank Shaibu, Director of Strategic Communications for the ADC Presidential Campaign Council, said the Tinubu administration was asking citizens to make unending economic sacrifices while expanding public borrowing. According to Atiku, with the public debt standing at ₦166.79 trillion, President Tinubu is pursuing an additional $1.5 billion from the World Bank, and he should first explain how the funds already borrowed were used. Atiku portrayed the government's economic performance as evidence of weak financial management. He said families are contending with rising costs of food, fuel and electricity, yet the country's debt burden keeps growing. He recalled that Nigerians were told painful policies would unlock resources for development. According to him, the pain has been felt, but the expected development has not materialised. Atiku said that if the public debt were shared among all Nigerians, each person's portion would now be ₦716,822. Three years earlier, he said, the comparable figure was ₦383,442, representing an 87 per cent rise. He argued that President Tinubu has made the present difficult and the future more uncertain. In his view, the President cannot continue piling debt on the country and expect Nigerians to celebrate programme names. He asked what the government has built, who has gained, and why Nigerians should entrust him with another term. Turning to the proposed $1.5 billion World Bank facilities for climate resilience, social protection and early childhood development, Atiku said the programmes have commendable titles but cannot take the place of full transparency over past borrowing. He said that before the loans are finalised, the government should publish the projects to be financed, the communities and citizens expected to benefit, the targets for each programme, the borrowing and disbursement terms, and a timeline Nigerians can use to monitor implementation. Atiku said climate resilience should translate into identifiable restored land, delivered irrigation and communities shielded from flooding. Social protection, he added, should make clear who receives assistance and when. Early childhood development, he said, should yield measurable improvements in nutrition, healthcare and learning. Atiku, a former Vice President, also asked the Federal Government to explain how its continued interest in foreign loans fits with its repeated claims of higher statutory revenue and savings from the removal of petrol subsidy. He asked whether more money is coming in and why the debt continues to rise. If Nigerians have sacrificed so much, he said, where are the results? He added that a government cannot keep announcing savings, signing loans and telling the same struggling families to wait for relief.