Tileriwa Adebayo, CEO of The CFG Advisory, has expressed concerns over the fiscal regime of President Bola Tinubu’s administration, describing the increase in debt servicing from N8 trillion in 2024 to N16 trillion in 2025 as a ‘red flag’.
Speaking during an appearance on Arise Change on Arise Television on Tuesday, Adebayo noted that the escalating cost of debt servicing far outweighs critical national spending, including allocations to defence, security, infrastructure, health, and education combined.
“The fiscal regime [under President Bola Tinubu] has a red flag. And the red flag is the fact that debt service has increased from N8 trillion last year to N16 trillion. So, that is a red flag because the debt service at N16 trillion is more than Defence, Security, Infrastructure, Health, and Education combined which is N14 trillion,” Adebayo said.
“The recurrent expenditure is N14 trillion while the capital expenditure is about N14 trillion. So, when you take a look at the key spending, debt service has now become an issue.”
He emphasized the need for the government to restructure its financial commitments and adopt asset sales as a strategy to ease the debt burden.
Adebayo advised the government to explore other financing options, including key asset sales, to reduce the reliance on borrowing.
“It’s important that government should restructure its balance sheet; sell down assets to repay some of these debts. And, that way, you improve your position. When you pay down debts, you improve your credit rating … internationally. We need to get out of junk bond status to investment grades to make it cheaper.”
What you should know
- Nairametrics reports that President Tinubu presented the 2025 budget titled the “Budget of Restoration” to a joint session of the National Assembly on December 18, 2024. The proposed budget outlines an ambitious N49.70 trillion spending plan, focusing on defence, infrastructure, and human capital development.
- The 2025 budget carries a significant projected deficit of N13.39 trillion, to be financed through borrowing.
- Experts argue that failure to address the rising debt burden could push Nigeria further into fiscal instability, risking its credit ratings and making it harder to attract affordable financing.
- Adebayo is not the first expert to make such observation; some other analysts have also expressed reservations about the 2025 budget projections.
