Tinubu's $11.6 Billion Debt Bill — and the Africa Argument He Took to Nairobi

Thu, 14 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

President Bola Tinubu told the Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi this week that Nigeria will spend approximately $11.6 billion servicing debt obligations in 2026 — more than double the $5.2 billion serviced in 2025, and a figure that consumes nearly half the country’s projected revenue.

The number reframes everything else the Tinubu administration is trying to do.

Fuel subsidy removal. Exchange rate unification. Bank recapitalisation. Tax reform. Each of those was sold to Nigerians as a difficult adjustment that would pay off through restored fiscal space and renewed investor confidence. The reforms have, by the Finance Ministry’s own metrics, started to work: foreign reserves are up, the projected debt-to-GDP ratio sits at 32.3 percent. But the debt-service line item is going in the opposite direction — and it is going there fast.

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Tinubu's $11.6 Billion Debt Bill — and the Africa Argument He Took to Nairobi