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He is also seeking an additional $500 million debut Sovereign Sukuk to fund the 2025 budget and refinance Nigeria’s maturing Eurobonds.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has requested that the House of Representatives approve a plan to raise a total of $2.347 billion from the international capital market.
He is also seeking an additional $500 million debut Sovereign Sukuk to fund the 2025 budget and refinance Nigeria’s maturing Eurobonds.
The President’s requests, read during plenary on Tuesday by Speaker Abbas Tajudeen, outline a multi-pronged financing strategy that combines traditional Eurobond issuance with non-interest Islamic finance.
Tinubu said the borrowing plan was made “pursuant to Sections 21(1) and 27(1) of the Debt Management Office (Establishment, Etc.) Act, 2003,” emphasising that it was designed to “give effect to the borrowing provisions in the 2025 Appropriation Act, refinance the $1.118 billion Eurobond maturing in November 2025, and expand Nigeria’s access to diversified external funding sources.”
The President noted that the 2025 budget provides for N9.28 trillion in new borrowings to close the fiscal deficit, with N1.84 trillion (equivalent to $1.229 billion) earmarked as new external borrowing.
“The House of Representatives is kindly invited to issue its resolution allowing the government to raise the amount through any of the following options: issuance of Eurobonds, bridge finance facility from bookrunners, loan syndication, or direct borrowing from international financial institutions,” Tinubu wrote.
According to the President, the funds will “be deployed to part-finance the 2025 budget deficit in line with the approved fiscal framework,” while a separate tranche would refinance the 2018 Eurobond maturing on November 21, 2025.
He described the step as crucial to “avoid default” and align with “international best practices in debt capital markets.”
“The plan is to refinance the maturing Eurobonds through issuance of Eurobonds, bridge finance facility, loan syndication, or direct borrowing from international financial institutions,” he added.
Tinubu clarified that the aggregate amount to be raised, combining $1.229 billion for new borrowing and $1.118 billion for refinancing, totals $2.347 billion, and that “the terms and conditions can only be determined at the time of the transactions and will be subject to prevailing market conditions.”
He assured lawmakers that the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Debt Management Office (DMO) would “collaborate with transaction advisers to secure the most favourable terms.”
In a separate but related request, Tinubu sought the House’s approval for the issuance of a stand-alone debut Sovereign Sukuk of up to $500 million in the international capital market, marking Nigeria’s first foray into global Islamic finance.
Tinubu said the planned Sukuk would mirror the successful domestic issuances that have raised “over N1.39 trillion since 2017 for road and infrastructure development.”
According to him, the debut international Sukuk aims to “diversify Nigeria’s investor base, open new funding sources, and deepen the sovereign securities market.”
This development comes amid concerns on Nigeria’s debt portfolio.
A previous SaharaReporters review of the debt service payments published by the Central Bank of Nigeria shows that the Tinubu administration spent a total of $9.9 billion on external debt servicing between June 2023 and August 2025.
According to the data, a sum of $302.2 million was spent in August 2025, $179.9 million in July 2025, and $143.3 million in June. The amounts for May 2025, April, March, February, and January were $230.9 million, $557.7 million, $632.2 million, $276.7 million, and $540.6 million, respectively.
In December 2024, the payment stood at $328.9 million. November 2024 recorded $232.4 million; October, $515.8 million; September, $515.8 million; August, $279.9 million; July, $542.5 million; June, $50.8 million; May, $854.3 million; April, $215.2 million; March, $276.1 million; February, $283.2 million, and January, $560.5 million.
For December 2023, the payment stood at $65.6 million. November 2023 recorded $367.7 million, October $509.7 million, September $439 million, August $309.9 million, July $641.6 million, and June $54.3 million.
A previous review of Debt Management Office data by SaharaReporters showed that the country’s public debt had grown to N149.3 trillion as of March 31, 2025.
This indicates an increase from the N144.6 trillion recorded as of December 2024.
According to the review, domestic debt rose by N4.4 trillion between December 2024 and March 2025, growing from N74.3 trillion in December 2024 to N78.7 trillion as of March 2025.
On the other hand, external debt increased by N350 billion, rising from N70.28 trillion in
December 2024 to N70.63 trillion as of March 2025.
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