₦airaland Forum

Nigeria spends N3.14 trillion servicing domestic debt in Q1 2026, up 20.3% year-on-year
Nigeria spent N3.14 trillion servicing its domestic debt obligations in the first quarter of 2026, representing a 20.3% increase from the N2.61 trillion recorded in the corresponding period of 2025.

This is according to data from the Debt Management Office (DMO).

The Q1 2026 domestic debt-service bill also rose 37.5% from the N2.28 trillion recorded in the fourth quarter of 2025, highlighting the sharp increase in the government’s debt-service burden at the start of 2026.

Interest payments accounted for N2.97 trillion of the Q1 2026 total, while principal repayments stood at N169.68 billion.

What the data is saying

The Federal Government’s domestic debt service rose from N741.82 billion in January to N967.67 billion in February before climbing to N1.43 trillion in March.

Interest payments stood at N726.38 billion in January, N967.67 billion in February and N1.28 trillion in March, bringing the three-month total to N2.9692 trillion.

FGN bonds accounted for the largest share of interest payments at N1.96 trillion, comprising N1.90 trillion from FGN bonds and N61.97 billion from the FGN US Dollar Bond.

Nigerian Treasury Bills attracted N1.003 trillion in interest payments, comprising N262.57 billion in January, N258.90 billion in February and N481.47 billion in March.

FGN Savings Bonds accounted for N4.24 billion in interest payments during the quarter.
The figures mean that for every N100 spent servicing domestic debt in the first quarter, approximately N95 went towards interest payments, while about N5 went towards principal repayments.

More Insights

The composition of interest payments also changed across the three periods.

In Q1 2025, Nigerian Treasury Bills attracted N960.72 billion in interest, while FGN bonds accounted for N1.40 trillion, including N67.99 billion from the FGN US Dollar Bond. FGN Savings Bonds attracted N2.72 billion.

By Q4 2025, interest payments on Nigerian Treasury Bills stood at N742.34 billion, while FGN bonds accounted for N1.32 trillion. FGN Savings Bonds attracted N3.99 billion, while FGN Sukuk accounted for N101.02 billion and the Green Bond N5.59 billion.

In Q1 2026, interest payments on Nigerian Treasury Bills increased to N1.003 trillion, while FGN bonds accounted for N1.96 trillion. FGN Savings Bonds attracted N4.24 billion during the quarter.

The DMO’s figures show that Q1 2026 interest payments increased from N726.38 billion in January to N967.67 billion in February and N1.28 trillion in March.

What you should know

The Federal Government’s domestic debt-service burden has remained substantial as domestic borrowing continues to play an important role in financing government expenditure.

Nigeria’s total public debt rose marginally to N159.35 trillion as of March 31, 2026, from N159.28 trillion at the end of December 2025, according to the DMO.

Total public debt stood at N87.38 trillion as of June 30, 2023, shortly after President Bola Tinubu assumed office.

The Q1 2026 debt-service figures show that interest costs continue to constitute the overwhelming share of the Federal Government’s domestic debt-service obligations.

timbabng:
3.14tn domestic debt service :

FGN Bonds: ₦1.96tn = 62.4%
Treasury Bills: ₦1.00tn = 31.9%
FGN Savings bonds: ₦4.2bn = 0.1%
Others : ₦172.8bn= 5.5%

Most people shouting Tinubu is borrowing on this thread don't even understand what's happening here. These are interests paid to the holders of Nigerian government securities, not to foreign creditors. And it accounts for 94.5% of Nigeria's domestic debt. If you bought treasury bills, your interest is part of the 3.14tn.

timbabng:
3.14tn domestic debt service :

FGN Bonds: ₦1.96tn = 62.4%
Treasury Bills: ₦1.00tn = 31.9%
FGN Savings bonds: ₦4.2bn = 0.1%
Others : ₦172.8bn= 5.5%

Most people shouting Tinubu is borrowing on this thread don't even understand what's happening here. These are interests paid to the holders of Nigerian government securities, not to foreign creditors. And it accounts for 94.5% of Nigeria's domestic debt. If you bought treasury bills, your interest is part of the 3.14tn.

prinsam30:
So what happens to the subsidy money

Kukutente23:
How does that change the fact that it's still debt

CodeTemplar:
Someone thinks APC is the problem but is there any other party towing a different path?
All 36 states governors are doing same thing in principle. Save for Obi who has a teack record of saving, who can we point to for a different approach.

Kukutente23:
How does that change the fact that it's still debt

AMINDA:
"Nigeria is generating so much revenue that governors are no longer borrowing" - Tinubu

So who is now borrowing these domestic debts that is making debt servicing to skyrocket to unprecedented levels? Federal government?

Skydivine:
Tinubu does not care about the rest of the country . As long as he is borrowing and directing the money to Lagos state projects alone, that is enough for him.

We were told that removing fuel subsidy will save money, enough for most needed capital projects, but here we are with nothing to show for it except more debts.

Who goes borrowing in manner with no limits. Maybe to show that his government is performing but the data is backing up the story . It’s an delusional to project such image , when every knows exactly the situation of things in country.

This is no longer a situation of the more you , the less you see The recklessness in borrowing is making the economy to bite really hard.

Gboss247:
Which subsidy money?
Is the same subsidy that was financed by debts?

Gboss247:
The economic system is built on debt, operated on debt, maintained on debt. Those will know how to use become rich, those who don't know remain poor.

Gboss247:
Last time I checked, you live in an economic system where the foundation is debt and roofing is interest.
An evening class on monetary economics will let you it an anti-inflation measures.

malali:
Please also tell Nigerians the other half of the story: what sustainable, revenue-generating scheme has been put in place to service these debts going forward?

Yes, much of the ₦3.14tn is interest paid to domestic holders of FGN bonds and Treasury bills, including Nigerian investors. But whether the creditor is domestic or foreign, the government still has to find the money to pay the interest.

And printing money is not a solution. It simply shifts the burden into inflation, currency depreciation and declining purchasing power, effectively impoverishing Nigerians.

A 30% Treasury-bill yield may benefit the investor, but if government keeps refinancing its obligations rather than generating sufficient productive revenue, the wider economy ultimately bears the cost.

So don't present only the comforting half of the story.

Tell Nigerians where the revenue to sustainably service these debts will come from, and how the debt-service burden will actually be reduced.

We deserve the whole fiscal picture, not selective facts.

Kukutente23:
Debt can't be an anti-inflation whatever that means measure
Debt even has the capacity to increase inflation since it's basically money you didn't earn
You're not looking good with this your theories o