• Presidential aide replies Dino Melaye
The Presidency has explained that borrowing remains a legitimate instrument for financing growth and reforms.
It said sustainability and improved revenue mobilisation, not alarmist soundbites, should define Nigeria’s debt conversation.
The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Public Communication, Chief Sunday Dare, said this while reacting to a comment by an opposition figure, Senator Dino Melaye.
The presidential aide noted that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain chose “spectacle over substance” in his recent television appearance, where he described the Federal Government’s borrowing as akin to “borrowing from OPay and Moniepoint”.
In a reaction posted yesterday on his verified X handle, @SundayDareSD, Dare explained that Nigeria’s public debt stood at N149.39 trillion as of March 31, according to the Debt Management Office (DMO).
The presidential aide clarified that the surge from the previous year was not caused by reckless new loans but largely by the naira’s depreciation, which raised the local currency value of already existing foreign obligations.
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He added that the nation’s debt-to-GDP ratio remained moderate at between 40 and 45 per cent — far below South Africa’s 70 per cent or Ghana’s over 90 per cent.
“The real challenge lies in revenue mobilisation, not runaway borrowing. Encouragingly, revenues are improving, strengthening our capacity to service obligations,” he said.
Dare dismissed Melaye’s critique as uninformed, assuring that the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was focused on sustainable economic reforms.
“Borrowing is a legitimate tool for financing growth and reforms. What matters is sustainability, not soundbites. Unfortunately, Dino prefers theatrics to truth,” Dare said.
He added that until Melaye acquainted himself with “basic economics,” his interventions would remain what they have always been: “entertainment, not enlightenment”.