President Bola Tinubu says Nigeria will spend $11.6 billion on debt servicing in 2026.
According to a statement by Bayo Oyenuga, special adviser to the president on information and strategy, Tinubu spoke at the Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi, Kenya, on Tuesday.
Tinubu said the current global financial system will need over half of Nigeria’s estimated revenue for 2026 to be spent on debt payment.
According to Tinubu, every dollar spent on debt repayment reduces investment in key sectors of the economy.
“Every single dollar that leaves our treasury to pay punitive interest rates is a dollar that did not go into our steel sector, our textile mills, our agro-processed, or our digital industries,” the president said.
“It is a dollar that did not train a young Nigerian engineer or provide affordable power for our factories.”
Despite the fact that many governments across the continent have completed reforms and fiscal adjustments, Tinubu claims that African countries are still viewed as perpetual high-risk borrowers.
“Our industrial base is being starved of the blood it needs – long-term, affordable finance – while creditors and rating agencies treat African sovereigns as permanent high-risk borrowers, regardless of our fiscal performance,” Tinubu said.
The president added that the current international financial architecture undermines Africa’s industrialisation efforts by making access to affordable capital impossible.
“How can an African manufacturer compete with a competitor in Europe, Asia, or North America when the cost of borrowing in our nations is five to ten times higher?” Tinubu said.
“How can we build cross-border industrial value chains under the African Continental Free Trade Area when our infrastructure projects face a financing gap deepened by the very institutions meant to bridge it?.
“The answer is plain – we cannot. The international financial architecture, as currently constituted, is an instrument of industrial disarmament for Africa.”
Tinubu also stated that Nigeria had made “painful, homegrown decisions” to stabilise the economy, such as eliminating petrol subsidies, unifying currency rates, recapitalising banks, and exiting the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list.
“These reforms were sovereign choices, not external conditions. They have delivered a declining debt-to-GDP ratio, now projected at 32.3 percent in 2026, stronger external reserves of $45.5 billion, and a return of investor confidence,” he added.
According to the president, Nigeria requires a financial structure that promotes African industrialisation rather than one that relies on commodity exports.
The president stated that Nigeria is not seeking charity, but rather a financial system that will allow Africa to industrialise, process its own resources, refine its own crude oil, produce its own pharmaceuticals, and compete fairly in a global market.
