DMO dismisses N611bn debt report, confirms March bond service at N67.99bn
BY MOTOLANI OSENI
The Debt Management Office (DMO) has refuted reports claiming that the Federal Government spent N611.71 billion servicing a domestic US Dollar-denominated bond in March 2025, clarifying that the actual figure was N67.99 billion.
In a statement released on Thursday, the DMO described the widely circulated figure as “completely inaccurate,” stressing that the amount reported by some analysts confused two distinct categories of debt servicing.
According to the DMO, “The figure published by the DMO on its website for Q1 2025 as Debt Service on the US Dollar-denominated Bond was N67.988 billion and not N611.71 billion. The figure of N611.71 billion cited by some analysts refers to the total debt service for all outstanding FGN Bonds—excluding the US Dollar-denominated Bond.”
The agency further clarified that no principal repayment was made on the US Dollar bond during the period under review, as the bond is due to be fully redeemed upon maturity in 2029.
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The clarification comes amid growing public scrutiny of Nigeria’s debt servicing obligations following the release of the country’s updated public debt profile.
As of March 31, 2025, Nigeria’s total public debt stock rose to N149.39 trillion, representing a year-on-year increase of N27.72 trillion or 22.8 per cent from the N121.67 trillion recorded in Q1 2024.
The domestic debt component stood at N78.76 trillion, up from N65.65 trillion in March 2024—an increase of N13.11 trillion or 20 per cent. On a quarterly basis, domestic debt rose by N4.38 trillion or 5.9 per cent, compared to N74.38 trillion at the end of December 2024.
Of this amount, the Federal Government was responsible for N74.89 trillion, while the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) jointly accounted for N3.87 trillion. Notably, subnational debt recorded a slight decline from N4.07 trillion in Q1 2024 and N3.97 trillion in Q4 2024.
Nigeria’s external debt also surged during the same period, hitting N70.63 trillion ($45.98 billion) as of March 2025—up from N56.02 trillion ($42.12 billion) in March 2024.
The DMO reaffirmed its commitment to transparency in public debt reporting and urged analysts and the media to verify figures directly from its published data to avoid misinterpretation that could mislead the public or investors.
