Nigerian Government Pushes “IMF-Debt-Free” Media Narrative As Nigeria Becomes Africa’s Largest World Bank Debtor

A Nigerian social media influencer has resurfaced a four-month-old news report from Arise News, subtly suggesting that under President Bola Tinubu’s regime, the country is free from its International Monetary Fund (IMF) debt of $1.61 billion. In reality, Tinubu has only redirected Nigeria’s external borrowing from the IMF to its sister institution, the World Bank.

Posted on Friday by @NigeriaStories on X, the recycled report gave the impression that Nigeria, under Tinubu, had been removed from the IMF debtors’ list by paying off $1.61 billion, and was now free of IMF obligations.

For context, in May, the IMF published an updated list of countries owing. Nigeria’s name was removed after it cleared its outstanding loan balance with the Fund.

It was this development that @NigeriaStories revived four months later, coincidentally at a time when Tinubu had begun shifting the country’s borrowing focus to the World Bank.

Related News: HURIWA Slams Tinubu For Subjecting Nigeria’s Sovereignty To IMF, World Bank

Adding to the narrative, Tinubu’s regime has recently promoted the claim that Nigeria no longer needs foreign loans, citing the “surpassing” of its 2025 revenue target.

The renewed emphasis on Nigeria’s IMF-debt-free status reinforced the impression among citizens that the Tinubu-led regime is reducing the nation’s external debt to a sustainable level, whereas, in 2024, Nigeria became Africa’s largest debtor and the third-largest debtor globally to the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA).

Similarly, in early September 2025, Tinubu sought a fresh $1.75 billion loan from the World Bank, in addition to the $632 million already borrowed from the institution in late March 2025.

In response to @NigeriaStories’ post, Nigerians on X expressed scepticism, highlighting the growing volume of loans being taken from bilateral lenders such as Japan, China, India, and Germany, as well as from the World Bank.

One critic wrote: “In [other] news, Nigeria is increasing its borrowings from World Bank, Qatar, Japan and every other country.” Another remarked, “This is sounding like borrowing from Peter to pay Paul.”

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Mayowa Durosinmi

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M. Durosinmi is a West Africa Weekly investigative reporter covering Politics, Human Rights, Health, and Security in West Africa and the Sahel Region

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