The Presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, said President Bola Tinubu‘s penchant for borrowing is killing businesses in Nigeria and worsening the cost-of-living crisis.
Atiku, in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, expressed worry that Tinubu’s borrowings continued at a time when crude oil prices have risen substantially above the assumptions upon which the 2026 budget was built.
“At the beginning of this fiscal year, the Federal Government budgeted on an oil benchmark of $64.85 per barrel. Today, crude oil prices have risen substantially above that benchmark,” the former vice president stated.
According to him, instead of the windfall translating into lower borrowing, stronger businesses and relief for Nigerians, the Federal Government went into the domestic market and borrowed a staggering sum of ₦24.7 trillion between January and August this year, which he said amounted to 90.5 per cent more than the ₦12.98 trillion borrowed in the corresponding period of 2025.
“This is not fiscal management. This is a government borrowing like drunken sailors in the middle of a revenue windfall,” he said.
The ADC candidate noted that Tinubu removed fuel subsidy and told Nigerians that the sacrifice would free up money.
“He floated the naira, and government revenues consequently received a massive nominal boost.
“Oil prices have risen sharply. Revenues have improved. Yet the borrowing has not gone down,” Atiku said.
He wondered where the money has gone, regretting that while government credit grew by 43 per cent, that of the private sector grew by only 9.6 per cent.
“Government credit is expanding about 4.5 times faster than credit to businesses,” the former vice president stated.
He said this is a signal that the Tinubu economic reforms have failed to produce any meaningful impact on the private sector.
According to him, if businesses are expanding, investing, hiring and gaining easier access to capital, then reform can claim some measure of success.
He accused the president of borrowing away the future of Nigerian businesses, adding, “Nigeria cannot achieve prosperity by allowing government to swallow the credit that should finance production.”
Atiku said an economy grows when businesses borrow to build factories, farmers borrow to expand production and entrepreneurs access affordable capital to create jobs, and not when government becomes the biggest and most voracious customer in the banking hall.
He promised that his administration, if elected, would impose fiscal discipline, cut waste, prioritise productive expenditure and progressively reduce government’s suffocating dependence on the domestic credit market.
“Government must make room for the private sector to breathe, invest, produce and employ,” the ADC candidate said.
