Nigeria’s ambassador-designate to Mexico, Reno Omokri, has claimed that Nigeria’s total public debt has significantly dropped under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration.
Omokri, who said this during an interview with the News Central at the induction course for ambassadors and high commissioners designate at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on April 27, 2026, further asserted that while the debt stood at $113 billion in June 2023, it has now dropped to $103 billion as of April 2026.
He argued that critics like Peter Obi misled the public by calculating the debt profile in Naira rather than Dollars.
“When this administration came into being on May 29, 2023, Nigeria owed $113 billion, so if you go to DMO, the debt management office, and go to their website, which is dmo.gov.ng, on March 31, 2023, Nigeria’s total debt was $108 billion. And then, because the DMO gives those figures every quarter, the next quarter, which was June 31, 2023, our debts had ballooned to $113 billion. Right now as I speak to you, April 27, 2026, our debt is $103 billion. So you can see that our debt under President Tinubu has reduced by 10 billion dollars. What people like Peter Obi tend to do is they calculate our debt in Naira.”
As of April 28, the post has garnered over 90,000 views, 100 likes and 70 quotes, causing lots of ruckus as financial debates erupted.
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CLAIM
Nigeria’s total public debt has been reduced by $10 billion under President Tinubu, moving from $113 billion in June 2023 to $103 billion in April 2026.
THE FINDINGS
Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is FALSE.
To verify the claim, The FactCheckHub analysed data from the Debt Management Office (DMO).
Established on December 4, 2000, the Debt Management Office (DMO) of the Federal Government of Nigeria is responsible for managing and storing information regarding the country’s local and international debts.
Nigeria’s debt profile, also known as total public debt, is calculated by summing the total domestic and external debts of the federal government of Nigeria, the thirty-six states and the Federal Capital Territory.
Data from the DMO shows that as of June 30, 2023, the total public debt was indeed $113.42 billion.
READ ALSO: Again, Okonjo-Iweala debunks viral post on Nigeria’s debt profile attributed to her
A Detailed Breakdown
On March 31, 2023: Two months before President Tinubu took office, the debt stood at $108.30 billion. In Naira terms, this was N49.85 trillion, calculated at an exchange rate of N460.35/$1.
On June 30, 2023: By the end of the first month of the new administration, the USD figure rose to $113.42 billion. However, the Naira value saw a jump to N87.38 trillion. This was primarily due to two factors: the unification of the foreign exchange windows (shifting the rate to N770.38/$1) and the securitisation of “Ways and Means” (Central Bank loans) which were moved into the official public debt record.
On September 30, 2025: As of September 2025, the debt indeed dropped to $103.94 billion. At this point, the exchange rate had shifted further to N1,474.83/$1, bringing the Naira debt to N153.29 trillion.
And on December 31, 2025: According to the DMO report released on April 13, 2026, the debt surged again in the final quarter of 2025, reaching $110.97 billion (N159.28 trillion), not $103bn quoted by Omokri.
Reno Omokri’s assertion of a $10 billion reduction is based on a comparison between the June 2023 figure ($113.42bn) and the September 2025 figure ($103.94bn). This data cannot be used to assess the current economy in Nigeria.
At the end of 2025, the debt had climbed back up to $110.97 billion. This means that between June 2023 and the latest reported period, the actual reduction is only $2.45 billion, not $10 billion.
While Omokri argues that the debt should be viewed in USD to avoid misleading Naira calculations, the Naira perspective is critical for domestic economic assessment.
Since June 2023, the debt in Naira terms has increased by 82.3 per cent from N87.38 trillion to N159.28 trillion.
VERDICT
The claim by Reno Omokri that Nigeria’s debt has reduced by $10 billion between June 2023 and April 2026 is FALSE. He used an outdated data point from September 2025 to frame a narrative of significant debt reduction. The latest official DMO data, released in April 2026, shows that the debt has since surged to $110.97 billion, making the actual reduction since June 2023 only $2.45 billion.
Seasoned writer and literary curator, Zainab Abdulrasaq is a factchecker for The FactCheckHub in an effort to combat information disorder. She can be reached on IG @blackbookishgirl or zabdulrasaq@icirnigeria.org
