Labour Party Commends House of Reps Speaker Abbaa for Alarm On Tinubu s Reckless Borrowing, Tasks Akpabio to Follow Good Example
By Prince Tony Akeni, Labour Party National Publicity Secretary (Interim)
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Abbas Tajudeen, after his initial catharsis of truth on the prodigal and dangerous borrowings of President Tinubu's APC administration on Monday has, in the last 18 hours, been telling Nigerians that his statement was quoted out of context.
But that is not true. If he has come under pressure by his party's hawks and blows by the long hammer of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu from his vacation beach in Europe to recant, Nigerians are good at understanding, so we can understand.
For avoidance of doubt, speaking yesterday September 8, 2025 at the opening of the 11th Annual Conference and General Assembly of the West Africa Association of Public Accounts Committees (WAAPAC), which took place at the National Assembly, Abuja, below is what Speaker Abbas said, verbatim:
_“As at the first quarter of 2025, Nigeria’s total public debt stood at N149.39 trillion, equivalent to about US$97 billion. This represents a sharp rise from N121.7 trillion the previous year, underscoring how quickly the burden has grown. Even more CONCERNING is the debt-to-GDP ratio, which now stands at roughly 52 percent, well above the statutory ceiling of 40 percent set by our own laws._
_"The BREACH of the debt limit is a signal of strain on fiscal sustainability... THERE IS NEED for stronger oversight, transparent borrowing practices, and a collective resolve to ensure that tangible economic and social returns match every naira borrowed.”_
_“This is not just a budgetary concern but A STRUCTURAL CRISIS that demands urgent parliamentary attention and coordinated reform._
_“Borrowing should support infrastructure, health, education, and industries that create jobs and reduce poverty. RECKLESS DEBT THAT FUELS CONSUMPTION OR CORRUPTION must be exposed and rejected. Oversight is not just about figures, but about the lives and futures behind those figures."_
When there is too much sand in a soup, even the blind will notice. That is what Rep Tajudeen Abbas, the APC's own Speaker of Nigeria's House of Representatives, has done.
Nigeria's astronomical debts without the benefit of visible economic and infrastructure development for the citizens on behalf of whom they are borrowed, the dangers the debts hold for the country's future are so grave and frightening that Speaker Abbas could not hide it from the world.
Speaker Tajudeen Abbas also did not hide the fact that his own party's administration led by President Tinubu is responsible for the country's public debts peril to Nigerians born and unborn.
For Nigerians to appreciate Speaker Abbas' sense of alarm, one must put in perspective the facts.
Both the Debt management Office and CBN's published data available to the public confirm that in the first 90 days of this year alone, Nigeria's public debts soared from #121.7trillion in December 2024 to #149.39trillion.
What is more frightening is that as Speaker Abbas pointed out, in the same three-month period the debt-to-GDP ratio resulting from these debts rose to 52%, which is far above the highest safe limit of 40% set by Nigeria's own fiscal laws.
What further worsens the alarming nature of the country's debts is the revelation that in the last nine months, Nigeria used N8.93trillion or $6.2billion to service her debts. This means that 61% of the country's revenues of #14.55trillion earned during the same period went into debt servicing!
Choosing his words carefully for minimum image damage to his party, even Speaker Abbas could not escape admitting that this is an extreme breach of the debt ceiling and revenue security threshold set by Nigeria's fiscal laws.
Yet, not done, President Tinubu, even as he jetted out to France last week on a 10-day vacation, is seeking a new World Bank loan, a proposal of which Labour Party has learned is currently being prepared for Senate President Godswill Akpabio's "ayes have it" National Assembly choir.
The public might condemn Speaker Abbas as a co-culprit crying wolf over a collective guilt for Nigeria's calamitous debts profile since, as Speaker of the National Assembly, he presides over one of the two legislative chambers which approved Tinubu's borrowings.
True as that may be, Labour Party believes that Speaker Abbas' admission of President Tinubu as the architect-in-chief of Nigeria's skyscraping debts, although coming somewhat late, calls for commendation more than condemnation at this point. This is especially so if his alarm will help put some breaks on the APC administration's recklessness in loan procurements. It is better late than never.
The Labour Party enjoins all Nigerians to join Speaker Abbas' call advocating, in his own words, "stronger oversight, transparent borrowing practices, and a collective resolve to ensure that tangible and social returns match every naira borrowed."
At this juncture of our country's captivity in the grip of President Tinubu's fiscal management disasters, there is not a more cogent, urgent and compelling call to duty to God and country as the one being made now by Speaker Abbas.
Finally, the Labour Party wishes to recommend to Senate President Godswill Akpabio to emulate Speaker Abbas. Taking the initiative and leading from the front ahead of Akpabio, Mr. Speaker has shown the Senate President a resounding example of objective patriotism by the call to put Nigeria first henceforward in all public loans procurement through responsible oversight.
Going forward, both the Speaker and Senate President should act in accord to ensure that wayward and prodigal borrowings proposed henceforth by the Tinubu administration, which do not have clear achievable blueprint for tangible benefits in infrastructural development, economic wellbeing and security of Nigerians are outrightly rejected and thrown out.
In particular, before Senate President Akpabio accepts another loan request from President Tinubu and railroads his assembly of she-men to chorus "the ayes have it," he should remember history. Any people pushed to the wall by grinding poverty with nowhere to turn would defy all one day and turn on their oppressors.
The solution to preventing this is to end altogether the APC government's prodigal borrowing and squandering of loans. The alternative is to, at the minimum, heed Speaker Abbas' recommendations of strict oversight over loans and ensure commensurate returns in benefits to Nigerians.
Tony Akeni Le Moin
September 9, 2025
By Prince Tony Akeni, Labour Party National Publicity Secretary (Interim)
The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Abbas Tajudeen, after his initial catharsis of truth on the prodigal and dangerous borrowings of President Tinubu's APC administration on Monday has, in the last 18 hours, been telling Nigerians that his statement was quoted out of context.
But that is not true. If he has come under pressure by his party's hawks and blows by the long hammer of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu from his vacation beach in Europe to recant, Nigerians are good at understanding, so we can understand.
For avoidance of doubt, speaking yesterday September 8, 2025 at the opening of the 11th Annual Conference and General Assembly of the West Africa Association of Public Accounts Committees (WAAPAC), which took place at the National Assembly, Abuja, below is what Speaker Abbas said, verbatim:
_“As at the first quarter of 2025, Nigeria’s total public debt stood at N149.39 trillion, equivalent to about US$97 billion. This represents a sharp rise from N121.7 trillion the previous year, underscoring how quickly the burden has grown. Even more CONCERNING is the debt-to-GDP ratio, which now stands at roughly 52 percent, well above the statutory ceiling of 40 percent set by our own laws._
_"The BREACH of the debt limit is a signal of strain on fiscal sustainability... THERE IS NEED for stronger oversight, transparent borrowing practices, and a collective resolve to ensure that tangible economic and social returns match every naira borrowed.”_
_“This is not just a budgetary concern but A STRUCTURAL CRISIS that demands urgent parliamentary attention and coordinated reform._
_“Borrowing should support infrastructure, health, education, and industries that create jobs and reduce poverty. RECKLESS DEBT THAT FUELS CONSUMPTION OR CORRUPTION must be exposed and rejected. Oversight is not just about figures, but about the lives and futures behind those figures."_
When there is too much sand in a soup, even the blind will notice. That is what Rep Tajudeen Abbas, the APC's own Speaker of Nigeria's House of Representatives, has done.
Nigeria's astronomical debts without the benefit of visible economic and infrastructure development for the citizens on behalf of whom they are borrowed, the dangers the debts hold for the country's future are so grave and frightening that Speaker Abbas could not hide it from the world.
Speaker Tajudeen Abbas also did not hide the fact that his own party's administration led by President Tinubu is responsible for the country's public debts peril to Nigerians born and unborn.
For Nigerians to appreciate Speaker Abbas' sense of alarm, one must put in perspective the facts.
Both the Debt management Office and CBN's published data available to the public confirm that in the first 90 days of this year alone, Nigeria's public debts soared from #121.7trillion in December 2024 to #149.39trillion.
What is more frightening is that as Speaker Abbas pointed out, in the same three-month period the debt-to-GDP ratio resulting from these debts rose to 52%, which is far above the highest safe limit of 40% set by Nigeria's own fiscal laws.
What further worsens the alarming nature of the country's debts is the revelation that in the last nine months, Nigeria used N8.93trillion or $6.2billion to service her debts. This means that 61% of the country's revenues of #14.55trillion earned during the same period went into debt servicing!
Choosing his words carefully for minimum image damage to his party, even Speaker Abbas could not escape admitting that this is an extreme breach of the debt ceiling and revenue security threshold set by Nigeria's fiscal laws.
Yet, not done, President Tinubu, even as he jetted out to France last week on a 10-day vacation, is seeking a new World Bank loan, a proposal of which Labour Party has learned is currently being prepared for Senate President Godswill Akpabio's "ayes have it" National Assembly choir.
The public might condemn Speaker Abbas as a co-culprit crying wolf over a collective guilt for Nigeria's calamitous debts profile since, as Speaker of the National Assembly, he presides over one of the two legislative chambers which approved Tinubu's borrowings.
True as that may be, Labour Party believes that Speaker Abbas' admission of President Tinubu as the architect-in-chief of Nigeria's skyscraping debts, although coming somewhat late, calls for commendation more than condemnation at this point. This is especially so if his alarm will help put some breaks on the APC administration's recklessness in loan procurements. It is better late than never.
The Labour Party enjoins all Nigerians to join Speaker Abbas' call advocating, in his own words, "stronger oversight, transparent borrowing practices, and a collective resolve to ensure that tangible and social returns match every naira borrowed."
At this juncture of our country's captivity in the grip of President Tinubu's fiscal management disasters, there is not a more cogent, urgent and compelling call to duty to God and country as the one being made now by Speaker Abbas.
Finally, the Labour Party wishes to recommend to Senate President Godswill Akpabio to emulate Speaker Abbas. Taking the initiative and leading from the front ahead of Akpabio, Mr. Speaker has shown the Senate President a resounding example of objective patriotism by the call to put Nigeria first henceforward in all public loans procurement through responsible oversight.
Going forward, both the Speaker and Senate President should act in accord to ensure that wayward and prodigal borrowings proposed henceforth by the Tinubu administration, which do not have clear achievable blueprint for tangible benefits in infrastructural development, economic wellbeing and security of Nigerians are outrightly rejected and thrown out.
In particular, before Senate President Akpabio accepts another loan request from President Tinubu and railroads his assembly of she-men to chorus "the ayes have it," he should remember history. Any people pushed to the wall by grinding poverty with nowhere to turn would defy all one day and turn on their oppressors.
The solution to preventing this is to end altogether the APC government's prodigal borrowing and squandering of loans. The alternative is to, at the minimum, heed Speaker Abbas' recommendations of strict oversight over loans and ensure commensurate returns in benefits to Nigerians.
Tony Akeni Le Moin
September 9, 2025
