By Ojima-Ojo Abubakar
The African Democratic Congress has accused President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration of running what it described as a “Ponzi economy” over plans to secure a fresh $1.25bn World Bank loan.
The opposition party said the move was unacceptable despite Nigeria’s rising debt profile, which it put at about N159.28tn.
In a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC said the Federal Government was taking fresh loans to service old debts while millions of Nigerians continued to battle hardship.
The party lamented that food prices, unemployment, inflation and insecurity had continued to worsen despite repeated borrowing by the current administration.
The statement read, “At this point, Nigerians must ask a simple question: if this government keeps borrowing trillions of naira every few months, why are Nigerians getting poorer, and why is life getting harder for the majority?”
The ADC noted that electricity tariffs had increased, the naira remained weak, businesses were shutting down and families were struggling to survive under harsh economic conditions.
It added that many manufacturers and small business owners were collapsing under the pressure of inflation and poor economic policies.
According to the party, the Tinubu administration had turned borrowing into a pattern, alleging that new debts were being acquired to offset old obligations without visible impact on citizens’ welfare.
“It is noteworthy that President Bola Tinubu himself has declared that Nigeria will spend about $11.6bn, over N15tn, on debt servicing alone in 2026,” the statement added.
The ADC argued that funds meant for roads, healthcare, schools, security, electricity and agriculture would instead go into servicing debts.
The party further criticised the pace of external borrowing since Tinubu assumed office in May 2023, saying successive loan requests had failed to translate into meaningful economic relief for Nigerians.
It also accused the government of introducing different policy acronyms to justify continued borrowing.
“From ARMOR to RESET, HOPE or SPIN, these are merely different labels for the same pretext to continue borrowing without measurable impacts on the lives of Nigerians,” the ADC stated.
The opposition party recalled that the government had removed fuel subsidy, devalued the naira and increased electricity tariffs with promises of long-term economic recovery.
It, however, maintained that Nigerians were instead facing one of the worst cost-of-living crises in recent years.
The ADC said a responsible government should channel loans into industrial growth, power stability, job creation and export expansion rather than accumulating debts without visible development.
