Nigeria’s total debt service rose to about N16 trillion in 2025, driven by higher domestic interest payments and sustained external obligations.
This is according to an analysis of data from the Debt Management Office (DMO).
The figure represents an increase of N2.98 trillion or 22.9% from approximately N13.02 trillion recorded in 2024, highlighting growing fiscal pressure as debt servicing continues to take a larger share of government resources.
What the data shows
Data from the DMO show that domestic debt service rose to N8.61 trillion in 2025, compared to N5.87 trillion in 2024, indicating an increase of N2.74 trillion or 46.6%.
Further analysis shows that domestic debt service accounted for 53.8% of total debt servicing, representing the main driver of the overall increase in 2025.
A closer look at the structure indicates that interest payments accounted for N8.24 trillion of the 2025 figure, which is about 95.7% of total domestic debt service, showing that most of the government’s burden is tied to servicing accumulated interest rather than repaying principal.
A breakdown of domestic instruments shows that FGN bonds alone accounted for about N5.35 trillion, representing roughly 65% of total domestic interest payments.
Treasury bills also contributed significantly to the rise in costs, as the government continued to rely on short-term instruments to manage liquidity and finance deficits. Nigerian Treasury Bills contributed N2.55 trillion or about 31%. This trend reflects the broader effect of tight monetary conditions, which have pushed borrowing costs higher across the domestic market.
Other instruments, including Sukuk, savings bonds and green bonds, made up a marginal share.
Principal repayments remained relatively low at N370.93 billion, accounting for just 4.3% of domestic debt service, reinforcing the structure of Nigeria’s domestic debt as heavily interest-driven.
External debt obligations remain high
On the external side, Nigeria’s debt service stood at $5.15 billion in 2025, which converts to approximately N7.39 trillion using the CBN official exchange rate of N1,435.2571/$ as at December 31, 2025, as adopted by the DMO.
This represents 46.2% of total debt servicing, showing that external obligations remain significant but have been overtaken by domestic debt in relative terms.
The 2025 figure reflects an increase from $4.66 billion in 2024, equivalent to about N7.15 trillion using the N1,535.3176/$ exchange rate adopted for December 31, 2024.
This translates to a $493.75 million increase or 10.6% year-on-year, indicating that external debt costs rose at a much slower pace compared to domestic debt.
A further breakdown shows that commercial debt accounted for $2.55 billion or 49.6% of total external servicing, driven largely by Eurobond repayments. Multilateral loans followed with $1.996 billion or 38.8%, while bilateral debt accounted for $599.95 million or 11.6%.
Eurobond repayments alone stood at about $2.49 billion, representing roughly 48.4% of total external debt service, highlighting Nigeria’s continued exposure to international capital markets.
In terms of structure, principal repayments accounted for $3.06 billion or 59.4%, while interest payments stood at $2.03 billion or 39.5%, with other charges making up the balance.
What you should know
Nigeria’s total public debt increased to N159.28 trillion as of December 31, 2025, according to the data released by the Debt Management Office (DMO), reflecting a steady rise driven largely by domestic borrowing.
The figures show that total public debt rose from N153.29 trillion recorded at the end of September 2025 to N159.28 trillion in December 2025, indicating a quarter-on-quarter increase of N5.98 trillion or 3.9%.
In dollar terms, the debt stock climbed from $103.94 billion to $110.97 billion within the same period.
On a year-on-year basis, Nigeria’s public debt rose from N144.67 trillion in December 2024 to N159.28 trillion in December 2025, marking an increase of N14.61 trillion or 10.1%. In dollar terms, this represents a rise from $94.23 billion to $110.97 billion, an increase of $16.75 billion.
