Buhari & Tinubu Era: Lingering Debt, Nigeria’s Woes and the Suffering Masses
By Bashir Yahuza Malumfashi
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When the conversation around public debt in Nigeria arises, blame is often the first card on the table – blame for borrowing, for mismanagement, for policies that failed to deliver promised prosperity. Yet, in this blame game, one thing remains constant – the people suffer, the debt climbs and the development Nigerians are promised never quite arrives.
Let us put aside political rhetoric and let data regarding the debt speak for itself. During Buhari’s Era (2015–2023) the borrowing was under the almighty Fuel Subsidy mantra. President Muhammadu Buhari inherited a national debt of approximately ₦42 trillion in 2015. By the end of his administration in 2023, that figure had ballooned to ₦77 trillion, a staggering ₦35 trillion increase over eight years.
Much of this was justified by the Federal Government as necessary for infrastructure and social programs. But more glaring was the over ₦10 trillion spent on fuel subsidies, and another ₦30 trillion accessed through Ways and Means borrowing – a form of direct central bank lending to the Federal Government, which many economists consider unsustainable.
Despite this borrowing, the country saw limited improvements in basic infrastructure, rising poverty rates, and weakened institutions. Buhari’s critics were loud and to some extent, rightly so.
In the other vein, during the Tinubu’s era (May 2023–Mid‑2025), the maddening/skyrocketing borrowing is without the subsidy. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu enters the “devil’s house” on May 2023, riding on a bold economic message that included the immediate removal of the fuel subsidy, which he and many economic observers described as a fiscal black hole. “The subsidy,” they said, “was a major cause of Nigeria’s debt crisis. Remove it and Nigeria would breathe.”
But alarmingly the opposite has happened. Within just one year, national debt jumped from ₦97 trillion to ₦121.7 trillion – a whopping ₦24.7 trillion increase in just one quarter. By mid-2025, total new borrowing had soared by ₦72 trillion in just 12 months.
Even more startling, there is no fuel subsidy anymore, yet borrowing has intensified. Recent legislative approvals add another ₦3.5 trillion, and projections show the debt could reach ₦187 to ₦200 trillion by the end of the year.
And now the poser: If the subsidy was the burden, why is the debt growing faster after its removal? Where are the savings? Where are the results? Where is the relief for ordinary Nigerians? Is it the popular and lauder “Renewed Hope” you promised to offer to Nigerians?
These and many are not rhetorical questions. They are demands for accountability in a time when millions of Nigerians cannot afford food, transport, or rent and more so subjected to insecurity – bandits unleashing terror in our lives.
The Contradiction: The more you remove subsidies for fuel, electricity etc, the more you borrow and embedded more taxes to Nigerians?
Every administration since 1999 has accused the last of irresponsible borrowing. Tinubu’s camp was no different. But now, his government is borrowing at twice the speed with no subsidy to blame.
So what do we call this? If borrowing under subsidy was reckless, then borrowing more without one is what – strategic or progressive? Honestly and sincerely, Nigerians deserve clarity not spin.
This is a moment of reckoning for public finance in Nigeria. If government after government keeps mortgaging the future with no visible transformation, then we are not just dealing with poor economic management. We are staring at systemic irresponsibility.
Nigeria’s debt is rising faster than its development. And the burden is not evenly shared. It is the average citizen who pays for the consequences of opaque policies and unchecked borrowing. They pay through inflation. Through job losses. Through school fees that have doubled. Through petrol they can’t afford and public transport that no longer moves. And through terror by bandits and kidnappers.
Let Mr. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu hear this: The people, though some are still gullible, some are watching, will not forget, are waiting – ready to react, more especially in the forth coming general election – 2027.
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Bashir Malumfashi, author/poet is the editor of online magazine, Taskar Gizago
