Patience Oniha, director general of the Debt Management Office (DMO), disclosed that Nigeria’s domestic debt profile presently stands at 3,685 trillion.
This was disclosed by Oniha when she defended the 2023 budget before the House of Representatives committee on AIDS Loans and Debt Management, chaired by Ahmed Safana.
Oniha noted that the domestic debt profile increased from 3.2 trillion in 2022 to 3.3 trillion in 2023 as a result of high interest rates on borrowed funds from domestic and international sources.
She urged committee members to examine the government’s borrowing of funds from a commercial perspective, stating that borrowing is a collective obligation.
This did not sit well with the legislators, who were concerned about the ongoing increase in the national debt profile.
The legislators saw a 1 trillion growth in the national debt profile over the past year and urged the DMO to put an end to the borrowings.
In accordance with the privatization strategy, Safana ordered the DMO to present the pertinent paperwork detailing the sale of assets, payments paid, and outstanding obligations owed to the agency.