Nigeria still servicing 69 loans incurred by Obasanjo, Yar’Adua, Jonathan – World Bank

Nigeria still servicing 69 loans incurred by Obasanjo, Yar’Adua, Jonathan – World Bank

The World Bank has disclosed that the Government of Nigeria is still servicing $10.6 billion loans acquired during the administrations of former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, the late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, and Goodluck Jonathan.

As of March 31, 2024, the Debt Management Office reported that Nigeria’s total domestic and external debt had reached N121.67 trillion ($91.46 billion).

Of this amount, domestic debt accounted for N65.65 trillion ($46.29 billion), while external debt stood at N56.02 trillion ($42.12 billion).

A report by Saturday PUNCH said the current administration borrowed $4.95 billion in its first year alone, contributing to the external debt burden.

The Central Bank of Nigeria further revealed that $15.55 billion had been allocated to debt servicing between 2019 and 2024.

However, according to the World Bank Group’s digital finance platform, the Nigerian government is still in the process of repaying at least 69 loans that were taken between 2000 and 2014.

The platform, which provides public access to financial data and portfolio information across all World Bank Group entities, detailed several of these loans.

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Among the loans still being repaid are those from 2000, such as the Community-Based Poverty Reduction Project ($60 million), the Second Primary Education Project ($55 million), the Economic Management Capacity Building Project ($20 million), and the Small Town Water Supply and Sanitation Programme Pilot Project ($5 million).

In 2001, the government took on loans including $100 million for the Transmission Development Project, $114 million for the Privatisation Support Project, and $90.3 million for the HIV/AIDS Programme Development.

By 2002, the Federal Government had secured $438 million through four loans, including the Second Health System Development ($127 million), the Community-Based Urban Development Project ($110 million), the Lagos Urban Transport Project ($100 million), and the Universal Basic Education Project ($101 million).

Between 2003 and 2005, the government obtained WB loans worth $1.1bn, and they are all still being repaid. Some of the loan titles include the Local Empowerment and Environmental Management Project ($70m), Second FADAMA Development Project ($100m), Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Project ($32m), Federal Government Economic Reform and Governance Project ($140m), and Sustainable Management of Mineral Resources ($120m).

Similarly, the government secured a total loan of $4bn between 2006 and 2010 and $4.3bn in other loans between 2011 and 2014. But they are all still being repaid as of June 30, 2024, when the platform was last updated.

Some of the loans obtained during this period are the Lagos Metropolitan Development and Governance ($200m), Avian Influenza Control and Human Pandemic Preparedness and Response Project for Nigeria ($50m), and Malaria Control Booster Project ($180m), all secured in 2006.

As revealed on the platform, the loans are categorised under the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Development Association, which make up the World Bank.

While IBRD lends to governments of middle-income and creditworthy low-income countries, IDA provides interest-free loans – called credits – and grants to governments of the poorest countries.