The Presidency has affirmed that borrowing remains a legitimate instrument for financing growth and reforms, stressing that sustainability and improved revenue mobilization, not alarmist soundbites, should define Nigeria’s debt conversation.
Reacting to comments by opposition figure, Dino Melaye, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communication, Chief Sunday Dare, said the PDP chieftain chose “spectacle over substance” in his recent television appearance, where he derided government borrowing with remarks about “borrowing from OPay and Moniepoint.”
Dare, in a reaction posted on his verified X handle, @SundayDareSD, on Tuesday explained that Nigeria’s public debt stood at ₦149.39 trillion as of March 31, 2025, according to the Debt Management Office.
He clarified that the surge from the previous year was not caused by reckless new loans but largely by the naira’s depreciation, which raised the local currency value of already existing foreign obligations.
The real challenge lies in revenue mobilization, not runaway borrowing. Encouragingly, revenues are improving, strengthening our capacity to service obligations,” he stated.
Dare dismissed Melaye’s critique as uninformed, emphasizing that the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is focused on sustainable economic reforms.
“Borrowing is a legitimate tool for financing growth and reforms. What matters is sustainability, not soundbites. Unfortunately, Dino prefers theatrics to truth,” the President’s spokesman said.
He added that until Melaye acquaints himself with “basic economics,” his interventions will remain what they have always been: “entertainment, not enlightenment.”
