PRESIDENT Bola Tinubu claimed on Tuesday in Abuja that Nigeria had met its revenue target for 2025 ahead of schedule and was no longer borrowing from local sources.

Addressing stakeholders of the Buhari Organisation who visited him at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, President Tinubu boasted: “Today I can stand here before you to brag: Nigeria is not borrowing. Nigeria is no longer borrowing any dime from local banks to run the economy. We have met our revenue target for the year and we met it in August,” Tinubu said.

In other words, the nation is either not borrowing at all or not relying on local debt sources to fund projects. However, the claim is a major contradiction as Nigeria under Mr Tinubu borrows every week through the open market operations (OMO), biweekly through treasury bills (T-bills) and monthly through savings bonds.

President Tinubu during a budget presentation at the Senate Source: Daily Trust

Each week, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) issues OMO bills, with only foreign investors and banks participating. Investopedia defines OMO as a term referring to the purchase and sale of securities in the open market by the central bank. Central banks conduct open market operations to regulate the supply of money that is on reserve in banks. They purchase treasury securities to increase the money supply and sells them to reduce it, Investopedia adds.

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The CBN issues OMO weekly to attract foreign portfolio investors. The CBN’s 84-day tenor OMO bills seen on Tuesday, September 5, was offered at the spot rate of 26.44 percent. A strong demand pushed total subscriptions to N1.2 trillion despite that the CBN had allotted N620.7 billion bills.

Similarly, the Debt Management Office (DMO) sells savings bonds each month to raise money from investors. Investopedia describes savings bond as “a government bond offered to its citizens to help fund federal spending, and which provides savers with a guaranteed, although modest, return.”

The September FGN Savings Bond Programme done by the DMO in September ended on Friday, September 8. The 2-Year FGN savings bond will be due on September 10, 2027 and it was floated at 15.541 percent rate per annum. Similarly, the 3-Year FGN Savings Bond will be due on September 10, 2028 at the rate of 16.541 percent per annum.

OMO, treasury bills and savings bonds are debt instruments. The CBN uses them to borrow money from the public or reduce or increase money in circulation on the government’s behalf. Investors demand yields or returns on them over a period of time. Economy Post understands that the CBN held its T-bills primary market auction on September 3, 2025, with a total offer size of N480 billion across the three tenors – an increase from the N230 billion bills offered at the previous auction.

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“The government borrows every week through its monthly OMO auctions issued to foreign portfolio investors and banks. It was the former CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele who restricted OMO to these two entities. Again, the government issues savings bonds, treasury bills and other short-term instruments, either weekly, biweekly or monthly. It happened last month, has happened this month and will happen next month,” said an investment banker, Dr Solomon Awuzie, who is a lecturer of Finance and Economy in a United Kingdom-based university.

Tinubu govt’s debt

In his entire 8 years in Aso Rock, former President Muhammadu Buhari, now late, borrowed N75.26 trillion from various sources, including from China, but President Tinubu’s administration has eclipsed that figure in just 28 months, borrowing N98.65 trillion, mainly from international sources. With the recently repaid $3.4 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan, Tinubu’s total net loans currently stand at N93.5 trillion.

President Tinubu had borrowed N96 trillion in his 2 years in office, as reported by Economy Post, but is now requesting fresh $1.75 billion from the World Bank, which is equivalent to N2.65 trillion. If the World Bank grants the loan to Nigeria, President Tinubu’s loan in 28 months of his administration will rise to N93.5 trillion.