₦airaland Forum

Every time a person says “Nigeria has no money,” I pause. Because that's not exactly true. Nigeria is not a poor country. We have oil, we have gas, and we have over 200 million people; that's a market and a workforce on its own. We have some of the most talented, hardworking, resourceful people on this continent. Money comes into this country every year, in trillions of naira, from oil, from taxes, and from reforms the government itself has carried out.

The problem is not that the money doesn't exist. The problem is what happens to it after it arrives, who touches it, where it leaks, what it gets spent on, and whether it ever makes it to the things that actually move the needle for ordinary people. That's the real conversation we should be having, and honestly, it's a more useful one than “Nigeria is poor.” Because if the diagnosis is wrong, the prescription will be wrong too.

Where the money actually goes
Let's start with something that will vex you small. As of 2026, close to 54 kobo out of every ₦1 the federal government collects goes straight into paying interest on debt before a single naira touches roads, hospitals, or schools. The IMF projects that interest payments alone will swallow about 53.7% of government revenue this year, up from 53.2% in 2025 and 40.8% in 2024. Some independent analysts, using stricter measures that also count principal repayments, put the number even higher.

There have been stretches where the government's entire revenue wasn't enough to cover debt alone, forcing more borrowing just to stay current on old borrowing. That's bleeding out through a hole we made ourselves, and now we're borrowing to buy plaster.

Meanwhile, the 2026 budget set aside ₦15.8 trillion for debt service alone, a figure that, when the budget was first presented, outstripped what was proposed for defense, infrastructure, education, and healthcare combined. So it's not that there's no money for hospitals and schools. It's that debt service eats from the plate before the rest of the family even sits down.


Read more: https://naijup.ng/blog/nigeria-is-not-broke-heres-the-real-problem

Nigerian problem is the government but instead the citizens are praying and fasting for things to work, is that not concerning?...

Kemical23:
Nigerian problem is the government but instead the citizens are praying and fasting for things to work, is that not concerning?...

Who is the government, isn’t it the citizens that make up the government .

Abi no be democrazy (Government of the people) una dey practice for Nigeria?

favor914:
Who is the government, isn’t it the citizens that make up the government .

Abi no be democrazy (Government of the people) una dey practice for Nigeria?

the government of the day is the elected ones because they are the ones taking decision on behalf of the citizens...

If this elected leaders are bad and the citizens don't know how to end their reign the country will be unsafe and that is just the problem of Nigeria...

but who but who with his senses intact will think a man that emptied his bullion vans on his touts to grab snatch and ran away with power is here to make life easy for them

Kemical23:
the government of the day is the elected ones because they are the ones taking decision on behalf of the citizens...

If this elected leaders are bad and the citizens don't know how to end their reign the country will be unsafe and that is just the problem of Nigeria...

If the elected representatives are bad, it is obvious that the people that they were polled from, are also bad.

U are no different from the persons that you are purportedly complaining about, chances are that you are probably worse than them on all realms.

Nigeria has never been poor and will never be poor.

What is an 80 year old president doing with yacht?

favor914:
If the elected representatives are bad, it is obvious that the people that they were polled from, are also bad.

U are no different from the persons that you are purportedly complaining about, chances are that you are probably worse than them on all realms.

you will have to calm down and behave like an adult if you are probably one...

People vote you into power out of love and likeness and when you probably win, you begin to pay evil for good..

And most of this people rig and buy their ways into power....

You sounded like a beneficiary in this present government....

favor914:
If the elected representatives are bad, it is obvious that the people that they were polled from, are also bad.

U are no different from the persons that you are purportedly complaining about, chances are that you are probably worse than them on all realms.

This is a most ridiculous statement and the greedy politicians always use to perpetrate themselves in office. So the private sector wey dey do well na spirits dey run am?

chicfarmer:
This is a most ridiculous statement and the greedy politicians always use to perpetrate themselves in office. So the private sector wey dey do well na spirits dey run am?

Chicken Farmer I no too blame u over knowledge wey pass your comprehension.

Is it not the same people from the private sector that u claimed is doing well, are the same people who took a brief hiatus from the private sector & went into politics, who are same people in government today .