Abuja, Nigeria
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, has issued a stark warning about Nigeria’s escalating debt crisis, urging policymakers to reject reckless borrowing practices.
Addressing the opening of the 11th Annual Conference and General Assembly of the West Africa Association of Public Accounts Committees (WAAPAC), Abbas represented by the House Leader, Prof. Julius Ihonvbere warned that both Nigeria and other African nations have reached a critical debt tipping point.
Citing the latest figures, Abbas noted that Africa’s total public debt had hit US$1.8 trillion by 2022, with external debts accounting for over US$1 trillion by 2023. Disturbingly, many countries are now spending more on servicing debt than on essential services like healthcare raising alarms on fiscal sustainability.
To address the crisis, Abbas called for:
- Stricter parliamentary oversight
- Transparent borrowing practices
- Ensuring that loans deliver tangible economic and social returns
He further announced Nigeria’s leadership in creating a West African Parliamentary Debt Oversight Framework through WAAPAC aimed at standardizing debt reporting, establishing transparency benchmarks, and empowering parliaments with timely, actionable data.
