Obasanjo Blasts Tinubu: Constant Borrowings Bankrupt Children’s Future for Luxury
Abuja, Nigeria—August 13, 2026—Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has launched a fresh and scathing attack on the Bola Tinubu administration, accusing it of bankrupting the future of Nigerian children through relentless borrowing that funds luxury, lobbying, and political patronage rather than improving ordinary lives.
In remarks that have reignited national debate on fiscal responsibility, Obasanjo described the current government’s approach as a “total disaster” that history will never forgive.
He insisted that while borrowing itself is not inherently wrong, loans must be tied to productive investments capable of generating economic returns—not used to sustain wasteful expenditure.
Debt Without Development
The former president’s criticism comes against the backdrop of Nigeria’s ballooning public debt.
According to the Debt Management Office, total public debt stood at ₦152.40 trillion as of June 30, 2025, comprising ₦71.85 trillion in external debt and ₦80.55 trillion in domestic obligations.
The Federal Government has since sought and received approval for additional borrowing to finance budget deficits and other commitments.
Obasanjo argued that the fundamental problem is not the act of taking loans but the purposes for which the funds are deployed.
Loans become damaging, he said, when they support recurrent spending, luxury, or political patronage instead of projects that create wealth, boost productivity, and generate enough returns to service the debt.
He has previously likened the administration’s spending pattern to that of a “drunken sailor,” warning that Nigeria is accumulating obligations without corresponding attention to citizens’ welfare, jobs, infrastructure or productive assets.
A Broader Indictment of Leadership
The latest broadside forms part of Obasanjo’s wider assessment of the Tinubu government. In earlier comments, he described Nigeria as a “failing state,” attributing the country’s challenges to leadership failures, corruption, insecurity, injustice, mismanagement, and underdevelopment.
He has repeatedly cautioned that poor fiscal discipline and unchecked debt accumulation risk mortgaging the prospects of younger Nigerians—particularly when borrowed money fails to translate into tangible improvements in living standards.
The Stakes for Nigeria’s Future
As the government continues to defend its borrowing as necessary for infrastructure, healthcare and legacy obligations, critics, including Obasanjo insist that transparency, prioritisation and results must match the scale of the debt being incurred.
For many Nigerians already grappling with economic hardship, the former president’s intervention has crystallized long-standing anxieties: that today’s borrowing could become tomorrow’s crushing burden, leaving future generations to pay for decisions made without sufficient regard for long-term national interest.
Whether the administration responds with clearer accountability on how borrowed funds are being used remains to be seen.
What is clear is that Obasanjo’s warning has once again placed the sustainability of Nigeria’s debt trajectory firmly at the centre of public discourse.
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