₦airaland Forum

𝐒𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭: 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐏𝐚𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐇1 2026

Ministry Of Finance Debunks World Bank's Records On Debts

The Federal Ministry of Finance has noted recent analysis and public commentary which, citing the World Bank's October 2026 Nigeria Development Update, claims that Federal Government interest payments reached 124% of revenue in the first half of 2026. This conclusion is misleading, for three reasons.

1. 𝐈𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐢𝐠𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐮𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞.

The interest figure includes debt the Federal Government services on behalf of other tiers of government, including external loans to states. Measuring this against federal revenue alone overstates the ratio which is only meaningful when debt and revenue cover the same level of government.

The reported revenue is also incomplete. It excludes independent revenue already earned by government agencies and enterprises but not yet remitted to the Treasury. In addition, more revenue is typically earned in the second half of the year than in the first due to the statutory timing of certain tax payments. This is why the ratio stood at 156% in H1 2025, while the full-year 2025 debt-service-to-revenue ratio was below 60%, down from 97% before the reforms. This is a clear sign of the progress delivered by the current administration's reforms.

2. 𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲.

Between the first half of 2025 and the first half of 2026, federal revenue rose by 72%, from ₦3.6 trillion to ₦6.2 trillion. Interest payments rose by a much slower 38%, from ₦5.6 trillion to ₦7.7 trillion. Revenue is therefore growing almost twice as fast as interest costs. As a result, the interest-to-revenue ratio fell by 32 percentage points in a single year, from 156% to 124%, and the gap between interest and revenue narrowed from ₦2.0 trillion to ₦1.5 trillion. This is the result of reforms working, not a sign of fiscal distress.

3. 𝐀 𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐟-𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐬𝐧𝐚𝐩𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐝𝐞𝐛𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲.

Debt sustainability is assessed on a full-year basis, not over six months. The same World Bank report projects Nigeria's full-year 2026 debt service, covering both interest and principal, at 46% of revenue. This is the appropriate benchmark, and a guide to avoid the invalid conclusions being drawn.

𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐥𝐚𝐰𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝.

Every naira borrowed by the Federal Government falls within the limits approved by the National Assembly under the 2026 Appropriation Act and the approved borrowing plan. All borrowing is conducted in full compliance with the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007 and the Debt Management Office (Establishment) Act 2003, and is published regularly by the Debt Management Office.

The Ministry welcomes informed scrutiny of public finances. We encourage analysts and commentators to apply the same rigour they seek to hold the government to: compare like with like, read figures in context, and seek clarification where the data is unclear.

𝐒𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐞𝐝:
𝘍𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭 𝘔𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘍𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦
𝘏𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘈𝘣𝘶𝘫𝘢

Souce

Nlfpmod, this is disputable, even 60 % is extremely high, it shows government can do much on infrastructure..........

[quote author= post=140950465]even 60 % is extremely high, it shows government can do much on infrastructure..........[/quote]Yes, it's high

But if we look back at where we're coming from, the Government has tried it's best

More work needs to be done though

Between the first half of 2025 and the first half of 2026, federal revenue rose by 72%, from ₦3.6 trillion to ₦6.2 trillion.

Bunch of liars.

Yet, you're collecting loan upandan like drunken master.

And haven't been able to succesfully finance capital budget for two years running.

Never-do-well clowns.

Even the dead knows world bank is right.

lol. Continue debunking o. Awon efulefu

We are not obi that lied about taking debts

The below was culled from the original statement

They intentionally left this out to suit their narrative

"The same World Bank report projects Nigeria's full-year 2026 debt service, covering both interest and principal, at 46% of revenue. This is the appropriate benchmark, and a guide to avoid the invalid conclusions being drawn."

Despite all the failed promises since 2014, they still promised that the cost of transportation would reduce in October. We are over the middle of October and nothing has changed.

How on earth can we believe this latest story again? Abeg make una dey lie with pity na. You people keep pushing more Nigerians into multidimensional poverty. If una no pity other Nigerians, make una pity una supporters.

Mr minister, if you can't tell Nigerians how you used the foreign loans you took, what makes you think you would maintain accurate loan records? The lender has nothing to hide, hence would present the accurate record, whereas a corrupt borrower would forged records to cover up misappropriation of funds.

The UK citizens must speak up loudly about this. The aid money you give to Nigeria governments end up in few individuals pockets corrupt politicians shares the money for their person use and end up lavishing them in luxury home and car in the UK pic.twitter.com/RTguKNaUol

— Austin 💎🎩🐬⚽️ (@Austinsupreme11) October 18, 2026

Apc...shioor. So, would bank is now lying abi ? So, if the IMF or same work bank says Nigeria economy is on the upward trend the way they've always deceived your gullible supporters, you won't have the time to set any record straight. Shame on all of you.

SO I should believe a govt of habitual and perpetual liar against a world class institution?
Tinubu is a bunch of failure.

In reality it is a different story,we know the minister is saying these things because of the election next year.

Your government didn't release a dime to federal ministries for two years but they are releasing peacemeal funds this year.....

Your predecessor complained about the debts swallowing the revenue last year and you are telling us now that the revenue is okay,abeg some of us are not gullible.

We need to know how much money we are owing and how much is being used to service those loans.

Omooba77:
Nlfpmod, this is disputable, even 60 % is extremely high, it shows government can do much on infrastructure..........

If you are still disputing this, kindly give us your own figures

You can't be playing opposition by dishing out lies like obi is infamously known for and you expect to take it

ElevationD:
Despite all the failed promises since 2014, they still promised that the cost of transportation would reduce in October. We are over the middle of October and nothing has changed.

How on earth can we believe this latest story again? Abeg make una dey lie with pity na. You people keep pushing more Nigerians into multidimensional poverty. If una no pity other Nigerians, make una pity una supporters.

But Okonjo Iweala warned us in the same 2014 to brace up for hard time coming ahead because the government she was part of at the time had morgaged our future

The result is what is playing out now

malali:
Okay, now world bank is lying ?

Read to understand

Don't just comment using the news headline

Lol…dem must find something talk sha…I wish we had a better alternative

This government want to hoodwink Nigerians to keep them in power. 124% means Nigerians will be taxed more to cover the burden

Obaofaba:
But Okonjo Iweala warned us in the same 2014 to brace up for hard time coming ahead because the government she was part of at the time had morgaged our future

The result is what is playing out now

When she warned, can you please remind us of the cost of petrol, bread, rice, transportation, etc?

Can you please remind us who stopped the subsidy plan then and who eventually removed the same subsidy that he protested against?

With a very organized finance minister like Iweala, who ensured that debts were wiped away, would Nigerians be facing such level of hardship as they face now? Be honest with yourself.

They will manufacture their own fake debt figures to deceive themselves as usual.

Criminals that claimed to have met their audio revenue target the other time only to turn around and start requesting for loans.


Clueless failures.

Tinubu wants to Tax Nigerians to pay up his uncontrollable debts which is used for his campaign .

Debt is going to rise so long as tinubu and his gang run from reality. Simple and short.

The debt also is why subsidy cannot come back. It would worsen it if it did.

Obaofaba:
But Okonjo Iweala warned us in the same 2014 to brace up for hard time coming ahead because the government she was part of at the time had morgaged our future

The result is what is playing out now

So why can't this government stop 'mortgaging' by placing a moratorium on debt so that it too can live within its means....

If a government that left almost twelve years ago is to be blamed for everything or where we are today, what has this party that has been in government ever since then been able to do apart from making it worse.

Does it look to you that this government is fiscally responsible....the only thing it has cut down is social services, every other burden on the public is full steam ahead, has multiplied several times over.

when world Bank says your doing well, you accept their validation, but when they now say ur not doing well in some section, you reject.

Reference:
So why can't this government stop 'mortgaging' by placing a moratorium on debt so that it too can live within its means....

If a government that left almost twelve years ago is to be blamed for everything or where we are today, what has this party that has been in government ever since then been able to do apart from making it worse.

Does it look to you that this government is fiscally responsible....

LOL.

No Nigerian government, past or present, can live on its means.

A moratorium on debt would mean that salaries do not get paid and projects do not get completed.

To begin, oil revenue was/is enough to fund half our budget for this year,...no less than half. Tax revenues could only fund less than 20 % of our budget this year.

You don\'t understand how bad Nigeria is and why tinubu is not only a bad leader, he is incompetent. Seriously, most of you Nigerians and Africans do not know why we borrow? (And I have been teaching you so well, mes enfants...).

But to say this for the nth time...Nigeria and most African nations rely on selling raw materials to fund their budgets. Most of the time, the prices of the things are too low to fund the budget, so we borrow. When the prices of the things we sell get high enough, we then pay the debts incurred and fund the budget...by more borrowing. Whe have done that since independence.

The solutuon is to build an industrial economy that exports, and to improve tax collection...but since you are campaigining for atiku (which is not a bad thing, you support your candidate) and you think that anyone who says anything contrary to your leader is a tinubu supporter,,despite the fact that tinubu is atiku except for removing subsidies, and obi is tinubu and atiku too......you miss these points.

Yes...someone like Ceaucescu of Romania did call a moratorium on borrowing and decided to pay off all the debts...and left Romania so broke that people got pissed enough to reward his leaving Romania debt free in 1985(at the expense of romanians going without)...with a coup, and his overthrow 4 years later.

Okay, you can call me a tinubu supproter without using the phrase again, son.

LOL.

Omooba77:
Nlfpmod, this is disputable, even 60 % is extremely high, it shows government can do much on infrastructure..........

which government

nairalanda1:
LOL.

No Nigerian government, past or present, can live on its means.

A moratorium on debt would mean that salaries do not get paid and projects do not get completed.

To begin, oil revenue was/is enough to fund half our budget for this year,...no less than half. Tax revenues could only fund less than 20 % of our budget this year.

You don\'t understand how bad Nigeria is and why tinubu is not only a bad leader, he is incompetent. Seriously, most of you Nigerians and Africans do not know why we borrow? (And I have been teaching you so well, mes enfants...).

But to say this for the nth time...Nigeria and most African nations rely on selling raw materials to fund their budgets. Most of the time, the prices of the things are too low to fund the budget, so we borrow. When the prices of the things we sell get high enough, we then pay the debts incurred and fund the budget...by more borrowing. Whe have done that since independence.

The solutuon is to build an industrial economy that exports, and to improve tax collection...but since you are campaigining for atiku (which is not a bad thing, you support your candidate) and you think that anyone who says anything contrary to your leader is a tinubu supporter,,despite the fact that tinubu is atiku except for removing subsidies, and obi is tinubu and atiku too......you miss these points.

Yes...someone like Ceaucescu of Romania did call a moratorium on borrowing and decided to pay off all the debts...and left Romania so broke that people got pissed enough to reward his leaving Romania debt free in 1985(at the expense of romanians going without)...with a coup, and his overthrow 4 years later.

Okay, you can call me a tinubu supproter without using the phrase again, son.

LOL.

you have started again

Obaofaba:
We are not obi that lied about taking debts

The below was culled from the original statement

They intentionally left this out to suit their narrative

"The same World Bank report projects Nigeria's full-year 2026 debt service, covering both interest and principal, at 46% of revenue. This is the appropriate benchmark, and a guide to avoid the invalid conclusions being drawn."

.. according to your Emilokan president...na statistics we go chop

They want to plunge millions of more Nigerians into poverty been over another 4 years. They aren’t done yet.

Parachoko:
Yes, it's high
But if we look back at where we're coming from, the Government has tried it's best
More work needs to be done though

This is where we were coming from before Tinubu made Jonathan a one term president in 2015, to favour kachalla Buhari whom he called expired in 2011, when he tried and failed to make another kachalla, Ribadu deny Nigerians of the opportunity to have Jonathan continue PDP cheap petrol, cheap dollars, low debt & tax burden with high employment, productivity and prosperity to be Africa’s biggest economy.

Nemere2020:
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy Chief Olawale Edun has said the last time Nigeria’s economy looked stable was about a decade ago.

He made this statement during his maiden press conference as Minister of Finance where he outlined President Bola Tinubu’s vision, agenda and strategy for the economy.

He said, “I think as we all know, we are not where we should be. The economy is barely growing above the rate of population growth.

“But it was not always so, and I think in trying to look at the way forward, if we now have a situation of slow growth, double-digit inflation, weak/depreciating exchange rate, as well as security concerns that are resulting in an economy that is not growing and not taking Nigerians out of poverty.

“If we think back to the last time when the economy was stable- when it was growing, when inflation was low, and the interest rate was affordable, that period was about a decade ago. Growth was about 6% in 2013 and 2014.”

https://nairametrics.com/2023/09/01/the-last-time-nigerias-economy-was-stable-was-about-a-decade-ago-wale-edun/

ElevationD:
When she warned, can you please remind us of the cost of petrol, bread, rice, transportation, etc?

Can you please remind us who stopped the subsidy plan then and who eventually removed the same subsidy that he protested against?

With a very organized finance minister like Iweala, who ensured that debts were wiped away, would Nigerians be facing such level of hardship as they face now? Be honest with yourself.

You must be a kid to say that debts were wiped off during Okonjo Iweala reign as finance minister during Goodluck Jonathan's presidency

What was wiped off was all the monies in the excess crude account

Go and verify