Reported by Ariajegbe Sylvia Esezobor
Former Vice President and African Democratic Congress presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, has faulted the Federal Government’s plan to secure a fresh $1.5 billion loan from the World Bank, demanding that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu first provide a full account of how previously borrowed funds were deployed and what they delivered to Nigerians.
In a statement issued on Monday by the Director of Strategic Communications of the ADC Presidential Campaign Council, Phrank Shaibu, Atiku said the government should publish the projects to be funded, the communities and citizens expected to benefit, the targets for each programme, the terms of borrowing and disbursement, and a timetable Nigerians can use to track delivery before the new loans are concluded. “Before these loans are concluded, the government must publish the projects to be funded, the communities and citizens expected to benefit, the targets for each programme, the terms of borrowing and disbursement, and a timetable Nigerians can use to track delivery,” he said. “Show us the money already received. Show us what it built. Show us who benefited. Account for the debt already on Nigeria’s books before borrowing another dollar.”
The proposed borrowing comprises three separate $500 million facilities at different stages of preparation. The most advanced is an additional $500 million credit for the Agro-Climatic Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscapes project, which the World Bank has scheduled for board consideration on October 29, 2026. If approved, it would increase the project’s total financing from $700 million to $1.2 billion, with $310 million proposed for dryland management, $165 million for community climate resilience and $25 million for institutional strengthening and project management. The programme operates across 19 northern states and the Federal Capital Territory, tackling land degradation, water insecurity, climate vulnerability and declining agricultural productivity. The other two facilities are a $500 million Nigeria Early Childhood Development programme and a $500 million Household Prosperity and Empowerment–Social Protection Project, with both currently projected for consideration in March 2027. All three are proposed as credits from the World Bank’s International Development Association.
Atiku’s intervention comes against the backdrop of Nigeria’s total public debt rising to N166.79 trillion as of June 30, 2026, according to the Debt Management Office. The latest figure represents an increase of N14.39 trillion, or 9.44 per cent, from the N152.40 trillion recorded at the end of June 2025. He argued that the rising debt burden should be matched by clearly identifiable projects and measurable improvements in the lives of Nigerians. “If Nigeria’s public debt were divided among everyone, each person’s share would be N716,822 today. Three years ago, it was N383,442. That is an 87 per cent increase,” Atiku said.
The former vice president said Nigerians had been asked to endure difficult economic reforms on the assurance that the measures would create fiscal space for development and improve living conditions. “Nigerians were promised that painful policies would free resources for development. They have felt the pain. Where is the development?” he asked. He also questioned the continued reliance on borrowing despite the Federal Government’s claims of increased revenue and savings from the removal of petrol subsidy. “If more money is coming in, why does the debt keep climbing? If Nigerians have sacrificed so much, where are the results? A government cannot keep announcing savings, signing loans and asking the same struggling families to wait for relief,” he said. Atiku further said Tinubu’s record was an indictment of his economic stewardship, stressing that families were struggling to afford food, fuel and electricity while debt continued to climb. “Tinubu has made today difficult and tomorrow more uncertain. He cannot keep loading debt onto the country and expect Nigerians to applaud programme titles. What has this government built? Who has benefited? Why should Nigerians trust him with another term in office?” he asked.
Atiku acknowledged that the proposed financing for climate resilience, social protection and early childhood development addressed genuine national needs. However, he insisted that the social value of the programmes should not substitute for transparency over existing borrowing. “Worthy programme names cannot stand in for a public account of how previous loans were spent or a clear plan for delivering measurable results,” he said. He called for specific mechanisms to measure the impact of new borrowing, saying climate resilience must mean identifiable land restored, irrigation delivered and communities protected from flooding, while social protection must identify who receives support and when, and early childhood development must produce measurable gains in nutrition, healthcare and learning.
The World Bank’s current country programme places considerable emphasis on early childhood development, social protection and building resilience among vulnerable households. Its April 2026 Nigeria Development Update said household incomes had yet to fully recover and poverty remained high, while stressing the need for targeted support to vulnerable households and stronger investment in human capital. World Bank data show that 40 per cent of Nigerian children under five are stunted, fewer than half are developmentally on track, and only 36 per cent of children aged between 36 and 59 months attend organised early learning. The Bank estimates that 62.5 per cent of Nigerians could be living in poverty in 2026, compared with 40 per cent in 2019 and 56 per cent in 2023. Nigeria’s outstanding debt to the World Bank climbed to $20.73 billion by June 2026, underscoring the scale of the country’s existing obligations to the multilateral lender.
The proposed loans remain preparatory and are not yet approved. If all three secure final approval at their currently scheduled dates, they would add another $1.5 billion to Nigeria’s World Bank-backed financing pipeline. The Federal Government has not issued a direct response to Atiku’s statement as of Monday evening. The Presidency has previously defended the administration’s borrowing as necessary to finance critical development programmes and has pointed to the social value of the projects being supported. The dispute over borrowing and debt sustainability has become a central issue in the 2027 presidential campaign, with the general elections scheduled for January 16, and the governorship and state assembly elections following on February 6. Atiku is seeking the presidency on the ADC platform, with former Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi as his running mate, while President Tinubu is seeking a second term on the All Progressives Congress ticket. For now, the former vice president has placed his demand on the record, and the question of what Nigeria has built with the money it has already borrowed will remain at the centre of the political debate in the months ahead.
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