DMO Clarifies Nigeria’s Debt Was N87 Trillion When Tinubu Took Office, Not N21 Trillion
The Debt Management Office (DMO) has refuted media reports that Nigeria’s public debt increased from N21 trillion to N142 trillion under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration.
In a statement on its website, the DMO clarified that the country’s debt was N87 trillion when President Tinubu assumed office in 2023, not the N21 trillion claimed in the media.
The DMO statement read: “The Debt Management Office (DMO) wishes to notify the general public that the news headline circulating in the media titled, ‘How Nigeria’s debt rose from N21 trillion to N142 trillion under Tinubu’ is inaccurate. The total Public Debt Stock as of June 30, 2023, which was the first published debt data after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu assumed office (on May 29, 2023), was N87.38 trillion, and not N21 trillion as reported in the media.”
The DMO further explained that the total public debt includes both external and domestic debt, not only of the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) but also of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).