Speaker Abbas: Africa’s debt at critical point

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abbas Tajudeen, has raised concern over rising debt profiles across African countries, saying recent available data shows that the debt trajectory has reached a critical point in most of the countries. Speaking in Abuja yesterday at the opening of the 11th Annual Conference and General Assembly of the […]

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abbas Tajudeen, has raised concern over rising debt profiles across African countries, saying recent available data shows that the debt trajectory has reached a critical point in most of the countries.

Speaking in Abuja yesterday at the opening of the 11th Annual Conference and General Assembly of the West Africa Association of Public Accounts Committees (WAAPAC), organised by the House of Representatives Public Accounts Committee, Abbas said the debt situation in Nigeria, as is the case in many other African countries, underscores the need to safeguard the continent’s financial future.

Abbas was represented by the House Leader, Prof Julius Ihonvbere, at the conference, which has the theme: “Strengthening Parliamentary Oversight of Public Debt: The Role of Finance and Public Accounts Committees.”

The Speaker stressed the need for “stronger oversight, transparent borrowing practices, and a collective resolve to ensure that tangible economic and social returns match every naira borrowed.

“In Nigeria, as in most of Africa, recent available data indicate that our debt trajectory has reached a critical point. It highlights the urgent need for stronger oversight, transparent borrowing practices, and a collective resolve to ensure that tangible economic and social returns match every naira borrowed”, he said.

 

‘African countries spend more on debt servicing than healthcare, others’

Abbas lamented that across Africa, several countries are in dangerous debt-to-GDP territories, with governments spending more on servicing loans than on healthcare and essential services.

“Across Africa, debt levels have reached alarming proportions. By 2022, the continent’s total public debt had reached US$1.8 trillion, with external debt alone surpassing US$1 trillion by 2023. In many cases, governments are spending more on servicing debt than on healthcare and other essential services, shrinking the fiscal space available for development. This continental picture makes clear that Africa faces not just a budgetary concern, but a structural crisis that demands urgent parliamentary attention and coordinated reform. The countries of the West African sub-region carry the same burden.

“Distinguished participants, when we examine the sources of Africa’s external financing, it becomes clear that the weight of debt on our continent is shaped by who we borrow from and on what terms. Today, Western private lenders hold about 35 percent of Africa’s government debt through banks, asset managers, and oil traders. Multilateral institutions, such as the World Bank and the IMF, account for another 39 percent, while bilateral loans from other governments comprise 13 percent. Chinese creditors, despite much of the public debate, hold only 12 percent. To place this in sharper focus, in 2019, bondholders alone represented 27 percent of Africa’s external debt, making them the single largest creditor group, ahead of China at 13 percent.

“The implications of this structure are far-reaching. A significant share of our national revenues is tied to debt servicing rather than being invested in the things our people need most: roads, schools, hospitals, and innovation. The high cost of commercial loans, coupled with the burden of repayment in foreign currencies, leaves many African economies vulnerable to market shocks. This narrows fiscal space, constraints domestic policy choices, and slows the pace of sustainable development.

“If Africa is to grow stronger, we must not only negotiate fairer terms of borrowing but also rethink our dependence on external finance. We must channel more energy into mobilising domestic resources, fostering intra-African trade, and creating financial instruments that serve the continent’s own development priorities. Only then can we move from vulnerability to resilience, and from dependency to true economic sovereignty”, he said.

He said a significant share of national revenues across many countries in Africa is tied to debt servicing rather than being invested in the things people need most, especially roads, schools, hospitals, and innovation.

He stressed the need for stronger and effective oversight, especially by the Public Account Committees of the parliaments across Africa.

To address the growing fiscal risks, Abbas announced that Nigeria is ready to champion the establishment of a West African Parliamentary Debt Oversight Framework under WAAPAC. The framework, he explained, will harmonise debt reporting across the sub-region, set transparency standards, and empower parliaments with timely data to scrutinise borrowing practices.

He also disclosed plans for a regional capacity-building programme for Public Accounts and Finance Committees, equipping members with modern tools for debt sustainability analysis and fiscal risk assessment.

Abbas, while warning against reckless debt, said borrowing should be for the purpose of bridging critical infrastructural gaps.

“Borrowing should support infrastructure, health, education, and industries that create jobs and reduce poverty. Reckless debt that fuels consumption or corruption must be exposed and rejected. Oversight is not just about figures, but about the lives and futures behind those figures,” he said.

 

Tinubu’s reforms yielding results – Edun

Meanwhile, speaking at the event, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, said the Tinubu administration’s economic reforms are beginning to yield results, with debt levels becoming more sustainable and investor confidence returning.

The Minister acknowledged that Nigeria, like many countries in West Africa, faces significant fiscal challenges, including elevated debt service costs, constrained revenues, and rising demands for public spending.

But he maintained that reforms implemented under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu are reversing negative trends and setting the country on a sustainable growth path.

“Nigeria is turning the corner. The reforms are delivering measurable impact in terms of investor confidence, reduced spending on fuel imports, greater energy self-sufficiency, and value addition in our economy,” Edun said.

He disclosed that Nigeria’s debt service-to-revenue ratio had dropped to about 60 percent in 2024, while the debt-to-GDP ratio stands at 38.8 percent, which he described as a comfortable level compared to global benchmarks.

The minister emphasised that parliamentary oversight is central to maintaining fiscal discipline.

He urged lawmakers to hold governments accountable for borrowing and spending decisions, insisting that transparency and accountability must underpin every fiscal framework.

 

Nigeria has no debt integrity mechanism – Experts

Reacting to the issue of rising debt,  a development expert and Executive Director at the Center for Fiscal Transparency and Public Integrity, Dr. Umar Yakubu, noted that Nigeria has over time not established a debt integrity mechanism to assess how public debt is being managed.

“We welcome the comment by the speaker, but our major challenge is that we don’t have a debt integrity mechanism. We keep borrowing without accountability and transparency.

He added that over the years, civil society and the media should have been involved in legislative oversight, adding that it is high time they were brought on board, as the government has always ignored their voices.

Also speaking, the Founder/CEO of the Center for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) noted that it is important for Nigeria to start drifting towards debt sustainability.

“Debt sustainability is critical in our economy because it is critical to our macroeconomic stability. As our revenue improves, we should use the opportunity to reduce our debt exposure.

“Those managing our expenditure should step up and ensure that we keep it within limits”, he said.

 

Akpabio seeks stronger backing for public accounts, finance committees

Senate President Godswill Akpabio, in his address, called on West African countries to strengthen constitutional backing for public accounts and finance committees in order to guarantee transparency, accountability, and sustainability in public debt management.

Represented by Senator Osita Izunaso, Akpabio said unchecked debt can mortgage the future of citizens and undermine democracy across the sub-region.

Akpabio described parliamentary oversight as indispensable to fiscal stability, noting that when debt is well managed, it serves as a strategic instrument for financing infrastructure, growth, and sustainable development.

Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts, Rep. Bamidele Salam, disclosed that the committee recovered over N200 billion in lost revenues for the federal government within the last one year.

Salam said the recoveries were part of a series of reforms to strengthen fiscal accountability in Nigeria.

He described the gathering, which Nigeria is hosting for the first time since WAAPAC’s creation in 2009, as timely, given the rising debt burden across Africa.

“While it is widely accepted that public debt remains a vital instrument for financing development, especially in emerging economies, it must remain sustainable, transparent, and justifiable. Effective parliamentary oversight is indispensable to ensuring that debt accumulation does not become a pathway to fiscal crisis or an intergenerational problem,” Salam stated.