Nigeria spent a staggering ₦3.14 trillion servicing its domestic debt in the first three months of 2026, even as the country’s total public debt climbed to ₦159.35 trillion by the end of March, according to the latest figures released by the Debt Management Office (DMO).
The DMO, in its first-quarter 2026 Domestic Debt Service Report and Public Debt Portfolio Report, said the ₦3.14 trillion expended on domestic debt servicing comprised ₦2.97 trillion in interest payments and ₦169.68 billion in principal repayments.
The report showed that domestic debt servicing rose steadily throughout the quarter, with the Federal Government spending ₦741.82 billion in January, ₦967.67 billion in February, and ₦1.43 trillion in March.
March alone accounted for nearly half of the quarter’s total domestic debt service, representing a 47.7 per cent increase over February and a 92.7 per cent jump from January.
According to the DMO, interest payments constituted about 94.6 per cent of the total domestic debt service during the period.
Treasury Bills accounted for ₦1 trillion of the interest payments, while Federal Government Bonds attracted ₦1.96 trillion. Interest paid on FGN Savings Bonds stood at ₦4.24 billion.
The principal repayment component consisted of ₦169.68 billion paid on local currency-denominated promissory notes.
The debt office also reported that Nigeria’s total public debt rose to ₦159.35 trillion as of March 31, 2026, representing an increase of ₦9.96 trillion, or 6.7 per cent, from the ₦149.39 trillion recorded in the corresponding period of 2025.
However, compared with the ₦159.28 trillion recorded at the end of December 2025, the increase was marginal at ₦75.51 billion, representing a quarter-on-quarter rise of just 0.05 per cent.
The DMO said domestic debt stood at ₦87.4 trillion, accounting for 54.85 per cent of the country’s total debt stock, while external debt amounted to ₦71.95 trillion, representing 45.15 per cent.
On a year-on-year basis, domestic debt rose by ₦8.64 trillion, or 11 per cent, from ₦78.76 trillion recorded in March 2025, while external debt increased by ₦1.32 trillion, or 1.9 per cent, from ₦70.63 trillion.
Compared with the position at the end of December 2025, domestic debt increased by ₦2.55 trillion, or three per cent, while external debt declined by ₦2.48 trillion, or 3.3 per cent.
The report further showed that the Federal Government accounted for ₦82.88 trillion of the domestic debt stock, while the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory accounted for ₦4.52 trillion.
In dollar terms, Nigeria’s total public debt rose to $114.95 billion as of March 31, 2026, up from $97.24 billion in March 2025.
The DMO said the external debt component was converted to naira using the Central Bank of Nigeria’s official exchange rate of ₦1,386.2156 to the dollar as of March 31, 2026.
The latest debt figures come months after President Bola Tinubu disclosed that the Federal Government projected spending about $11.6 billion on debt servicing in 2026.
They also follow the National Assembly’s approval, on March 31, of President Tinubu’s request to secure an additional $6 billion in external borrowing to finance key government programmes and projects.
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