‘Stop mortgaging the future of our children’: Obi knocks Tinubu over plans to borrow ₦20 trillion

Former Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has expressed shock at the constant borrowings by the federal government of Nigeria, arguing that it leaves a lot to question about governance in the country.

According to Obi, President Tinubu’s administration is sending conflicting signals by telling citizens that the government has surpassed its 2025 revenue target since August and still engaging in massive borrowing of funds.

Obi asserted in a statement he released on his X page on Friday while reacting to reports that the federal government has concluded plans to borrow about ₦20 trillion in new loans to finance the 2026 budget.

The former Anambra governor argued that the report is a worrisome development as it suggests fiscal rascality, uncontrolled and unexplained borrowing on the part of the government.

Instead of constant borrowing that is not tied to any developmental efforts, Obi urged the government to encourage the production, export, and creation of value, while building strong institutions that ensure accountability and the efficient use of public funds.

He further explained that Nigeria can not borrow its way into prosperity.

He wrote, “Today, Nigerians woke up again to the troubling news that the Federal Government is planning to borrow about ₦20 trillion in new loans to finance the 2026 budget. This is at a time when debt servicing alone is projected to gulp nearly half of our national revenue, and when our borrowing requirement has surged by over 72%.

“At a time when Nigerians are struggling under unprecedented hardship, insecurity, and unemployment, we must ask the most important and logical questions: Where is the revenue from 2025?

“How can we be discussing trillions in new borrowing for 2026 when we are still implementing the 2024 budget? One is genuinely worried. This suggests, very clearly, that the 2025 budget is still untouched and unimplemented.

“So, where are all the revenues that accrued in 2025, even when we were told that we had surpassed the revenue targets since August?

“It is time for us to stop this fiscal rascality, especially with uncontrolled and unexplained borrowing that is not being invested in the productive sectors of our nation, but instead ends up in consumption.

“We cannot keep mortgaging the future of our children through thoughtless borrowing. We cannot continue this way.

“For years, I have consistently maintained that Nigeria cannot borrow its way into prosperity. Nations do not develop by consuming more than they produce. They develop by producing, exporting, and creating value, while building strong institutions that ensure accountability and efficient use of public funds.

“We cannot tell Nigerians that revenue is increasing while simultaneously increasing borrowing to ridiculous historic levels. Governance must be built on transparency, not propaganda.

“We cannot build a new Nigeria on the foundation of misleading figures, rising debts, shrinking production, and continuous hardship. Our nation must move forward.

Peter Obi has consistently criticised some policies and decisions of the President Tinubu-led government, thus becoming one of the faces of opposition in the country.

“We cannot tell Nigerians that revenue is increasing while simultaneously increasing borrowing to ridiculous historic levels. Governance must be built on transparency, not propaganda.

“We cannot build a new Nigeria on the foundation of misleading figures, rising debts, shrinking production, and continuous hardship. Our nation must move forward.

Peter Obi has consistently criticised some policies and decisions of the President Tinubu-led government, thus becoming one of the faces of opposition in the country.