The World Bank Group (WBG) Finances has revealed that the Federal Government is still repaying $10.6 billion in loans obtained under former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, late Umaru Musa Yaradua, and Goodluck Jonathan.
In June 2024, the Debt Management Office said as of 31 March 2024, Nigeria’s domestic and external debts stood at N121.67 trillion ($91.46 billion).
The domestic debt was put at N65.65 trillion ($46.29 billion), while external debt stood at N56.02 trillion ($42.12 billion).
Saturday PUNCH reports that part of the foreign debt was the $4.95 billion in loans obtained by the current administration in its first 12 months, just as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said a total of $15.55 billion had been spent on debt servicing between 2019 and 2024.
The WBG Finances, a digital platform, revealed that the Federal Government was still repaying at least 69 different loans secured between 2000 and 2014.
The platform, an initiative of the World Bank Group Finance and Accounting, offers public financial data and portfolio information from across all WBG entities.
It said, part of the World Bank loans still being repaid include the Community Based Poverty Reduction Project ($60 million), Second Primary Education Project ($55 million), Economic Management Capacity Building Project ($20 million), and Small Town Water Supply and Sanitation Programme Pilot Project ($5 million), all obtained in 2000.
Those for 2001 include the Transmission Development Project ($100 million), Privatisation Support Project ($114 million), and HIV/AIDS Programme Development ($90.3 million).
In 2002, the Federal Government obtained four loans totalling $438 million, including the Second Health System Development ($127 million), the Community-Based Urban Development Project ($110 million), Lagos Urban Transport Project ($100 million), and the Universal Basic Education Project ($101 million).
Between 2003 and 2005, the government obtained WB loans worth $1.1 billion, and they are all still being repaid. Some of the loan titles include the Local Empowerment and Environmental Management Project ($70 million), Second FADAMA Development Project ($100 million), Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Project ($32 million), Federal Government Economic Reform and Governance Project ($140 million), and Sustainable Management of Mineral Resources ($120 million).
Similarly, the government secured a total loan of $4 billion between 2006 and 2010 and $4.3 billion in other loans between 2011 and 2014. But they are all still being repaid as of 30 June, 2024, when the platform was last updated.
Some of the loans obtained during this period are the Lagos Metropolitan Development and Governance ($200 million), Avian Influenza Control and Human Pandemic Preparedness and Response Project for Nigeria ($50 million), and Malaria Control Booster Project ($180 million), all secured in 2006.
As revealed on the platform, the loans are categorised under the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IBA), 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.
The loan list does not include Trust Funds, Financial Intermediary Funds (FIFs) Commitments, loans to IFC, nor IBRD/IDA guarantees, the platform revealed.
