By: Dr Saleh Adamu Kwaru Adding a staggering $20.52 billion and €1.05 billion to Nigeria’s debt bill is more than an economic ...
By: Dr Saleh Adamu Kwaru
Adding a staggering $20.52 billion and €1.05 billion to Nigeria’s debt bill is more than an economic miscalculation—it is a heartbreak for a nation already brought to its knees. When leaders look out at millions of citizens struggling to afford a single meal, choking under historic inflation, and watching their futures slip away, their reflex is to pile on yet another mountain of debt. It forces every suffering Nigerian to cry out in anguish: When will our leaders finally feel the pain they inflict, and when will the bleeding stop?
The timing of this monstrous loan request is nothing short of a betrayal. Pushing through mountains of foreign debt right on the eve of heated political cycles and election seasons—when public anxiety is high and attention is stretched thin—robs citizens of the fierce accountability this nation deserves. Instead of looking inward, showing discipline, and fixing how public revenue is managed, there is a frantic rush to mortgage our collective destiny. It feels less like governance and more like a desperate race to lock in liabilities before anyone can stop them.
Our national debt profile is already a ticking time bomb, suffocating every sector of our society. Every single dollar borrowed deepens the chains on our sovereignty and swallows the revenue that should feed schools, stock hospitals, and rescue the vulnerable. Piling another $20+ billion onto this broken foundation pushes the country past the brink, threatening to turn our homeland into a permanent economic slave. How much more blood can this government squeeze from a stone before the entire house of cards collapses onto the heads of ordinary families?
We are fed the same tired, hollow promises—that these loans will miraculously fix power, roads, healthcare, and education. But intention without integrity is a lie. Where is the visible proof that past loans ever built a better life for the common man? Instead of seeing progress, Nigerians see skyrocketing poverty while the debt burden balloons out of control. When these projects fail to generate the wealth to pay themselves back, the crushing weight falls back on the ordinary citizen through harsher taxes, deeper despair, and broken public systems.
Before anyone dares sign away the future of unborn generations for a $20+ billion check, they must look the Nigerian people in the eye and answer for the bleeding treasury. Why is borrowing always the lazy, frictionless choice while systemic corruption goes untouched? Nigerians are exhausted, broken, and tired of being treated as collateral damage in a game of endless borrowing. We do not need another debt mountain built on empty promises; we need leaders with a conscience, fiscal discipline, and a genuine love for the people they swore to protect.
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