The federal government’s borrowing from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) stood at N4.36 trillion as of June, a month after President Bola Tinubu’s predecessor securitised a substantial chunk of the total debt, available official data show.
At the twilight of his eight-year tenure, President Muhammadu Buhari had securitised N22.7 trillion borrowed from the Ways and Means Advances, a loan facility used by the central bank to finance the government in periods of temporary budget shortfalls subject to limits imposed by law.
The total amount of such advances outstanding shall not at any time exceed five percent of the previous year’s actual revenue of the Federal Government, according to Section 38 of the CBN Act, 2007.
The outstanding debt of N4.36 trillion far exceeds five percent of the federal government’s revenue of N8.8 trillion for last year.
The debt owed to the central bank had surged to N26.95 trillion in May before the securitisation, which enabled N22.7 trillion to be added to the country’s public debt stock. The Debt Management Office said in September that the total public debt rose to N87.38 trillion as of June from N49.85 trillion as of May