President Bola Tinubu has said Nigeria’s debt service-to-revenue ratio dropped from nearly 100 per cent in 2022 under his predecessor, President Muhammadu Buhari, to under 40 per cent since he took office two years ago.
The president said this during the speech marking his second-year anniversary in office on Thursday, May 29.
President Tinubu was sworn in as Nigeria’s 16th president on May 29, 2023, taking over from his ally, Mr Buhari, after completing his eight-year tenure.
He noted that since he took office, he has faced headwinds but this was handled with courage and determination.
“Two years ago, you entrusted me with the sacred responsibility to lead our nation at a time of historic challenges. Together, we have faced these headwinds with courage and determination,” he said.
“Our debt position is improving. While foreign exchange revaluation pushed our debt-to-GDP ratio to around 53 per cent, our debt service-to-revenue ratio dropped from nearly 100 per cent in 2022 to under 40 per cent by 2024.
“We paid off our IMF obligations and grew our net external reserves by almost 500 per cent from $4 billion in 2023 to over $23 billion by the end of 2024,” he said.
He also reiterated that decades-long fuel subsidies and the corruption-ridden multiple foreign exchange windows had to be removed as they were no longer sustainable and “have become a chokehold on our nation’s neck, strangling our nation’s future.”
He examined that his administration is on course to tackle economic instability, improve security nationwide, reduce corruption, reform governance, and lift Nigerians out of poverty.
He noted that alongside easing inflation, the country is tackling other issues from oil and gas to revenue generation.
“Inflation has begun to ease, with rice prices and other staples declining. The oil and gas sector is recovering; rig counts are up by over 400 per cent in 2025 compared to 2021, and over $8 billion in new investments have been committed. We have stabilised our economy and are now better positioned for growth and prepared to withstand global shocks.
“In 2025, we remain on track with our fiscal targets. Gross proceeds per barrel from crude oil are broadly aligned with our forecasts as we intensify our efforts to ramp up production. Our fiscal deficit has narrowed sharply from 5.4 per cent of GDP in 2023 to 3.0 per cent in 2024.
“We achieved this through improved revenue generation and greater transparency in government finances. In the first quarter of this year, we recorded over N6 trillion in revenue,” he said in parts of the speech.