The Nigerian Senate, on Tuesday, gave the green light to President Bola Tinubu’s $24bn foreign loan plan.
The upper chamber approved the loan which is part of a comprehensive borrowing package Tinubu sent to the National Assembly for approval.
Pan-Atlantic Kompass reports that the approved borrowing plan includes $21.5 billion, €2.2 billion (₦5.6 trillion at ₦2,545 per EUR), ¥15 billion (₦150 billion at ₦10 per JPY), and a €65 million grant (₦165 billion).
Leading the debates during plenary on Tuesday in Abuja, Chairman Senate Committee on Local and Foreign Debt, Senator Aliyu Wamako, presented the long-awaited report, which was first introduced on May 27, 2025.
He explained that delay in its adoption was attributed to parliamentary recesses and challenges in obtaining documentation from the Debt Management Office (DMO).
Also, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Senator Olamilekan Solomon (Ogun West), noted that the approval was largely procedural, as most of the items had already been incorporated into the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and the 2025 Budget previously passed by the Senate.
“The borrowing is already embedded in the 2025 Appropriation Act. With this approval, we now have all revenue sources, including loans, in place to fully fund the budget,” Adeola said.
President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, in his final verdict said the approval of Tinubu’s $24bn foreign loan was to address Nigeria’s fiscal challenges and drive sustainable development.
He said the funds are intended to support various national development projects across key sectors, including infrastructure, security, agriculture, and human capital development.
Pan-Atlantic Kompass reports that the latest loan is expected to balloon Nigeria’s public debt.
Recently, the DMO revealed that Nigeria’s debt profile stood at N149.39 trillion in the first quarter of 2025.
The DMO said this represents a 22.8% year-on-year increase from N121.67 trillion in Q1 2024.
The DMO’s latest report, released on June 28, 2025, revealed a quarter-on-quarter rise of N4.72 trillion, or 3.3%, from N144.67 trillion in December 2024.
The cost of debt servicing has surged, reaching ₦13.12 trillion in 2024, a 68% increase from ₦7.8 trillion in 2023.
