ONLY A WORKING PEOPLE-LED SOCIALIST ALTERNATIVE CAN END THIS CRISIS

By Lateef Adams

While the cost of living keeps rising and the standard of living continues to worsen in Nigeria, the ruling elite have relentlessly driven the economy deeper into debt. The country’s debt profile has become a nightmare—one that should deeply worry the working masses. It is a clear indication of how recklessly and irresponsibly the economy is being managed under this corrupt capitalist system.

Former President Buhari left office with a shocking debt burden amounting to ₦87.38 trillion (approximately $113.42 billion). This figure, released by the Debt Management Office (DMO), was as of June 2023—barely a month after President Tinubu assumed office. By September 2023, the debt had already climbed to ₦87.9 trillion. It is mind-boggling that, within just three months of being in office, an additional ₦600 billion was borrowed. Even more outrageous is the fact that this happened during the same period President Tinubu announced that his government had saved over ₦1 trillion through the removal of fuel subsidy.

The sharp rise in public debt is largely due to the federal government’s increasing borrowings from both domestic and external sources. According to the latest figures from the DMO, Nigeria’s total debt profile rose to ₦145 trillion as of December 2024. This means that in less than two years under the Tinubu administration, the national debt increased by over 60%, translating to an additional ₦58 trillion in borrowings within that period.

It is obvious that this debt profile will continue to worsen under the current government, particularly because it remains unbothered about utilising the country’s vast resources in the interest of the working masses. Rather than prioritise investment in social services, job creation, and industrial development, the regime continues to rely heavily on borrowing to finance a wasteful and elitist system that benefits only a privileged few.

As we have consistently argued, the ruling elite is unproductive and ever-ready to carry out the dictates of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank—two imperialist institutions whose neoliberal policies have brought nothing but hardship and underdevelopment to Nigeria. These are the same failed prescriptions embraced by previous regimes, which have only deepened inequality, destroyed local industries, and turned the economy into what is now shamefully known across the world as the “poverty capital of the world.”

The working class must urgently reflect on whether to continue with a system that has led to mass unemployment, the collapse of industries, and the worsening living conditions—or to begin the process of seeking a radical, people-centred alternative. Despite repeated claims of economic growth and reform by the Tinubu government, the reality on the ground tells a different story. Millions of working-class Nigerians are barely surviving. Inflation continues to erode wages, unemployment is rampant, and market traders—men and women—cry out month after month as the cost of goods skyrockets. There’s no indication that this hardship will ease anytime soon.

Falling Oil Prices and More Borrowing

With the fall in crude oil prices on the international market, it is almost certain that the Tinubu regime will resort to more borrowing to fill the widening gap in the budget. This is because the government, like previous regimes, has refused to build a productive economy and continues to rely almost entirely on crude oil sales to fund national expenditure. The 2025 budget pegs the oil price benchmark at $75 per barrel, but current market prices hover between $61 and $65—well below the target, and a clear signal that the budget is built on shaky foundations.

Crude oil accounts for nearly 90% of Nigeria’s export earnings and 56% of the projected revenue for 2025. This overdependence on oil, in the face of global price instability, exposes the deep failure of capitalist policies that have prioritised extractive profit over long-term planning. With this sharp shortfall, the regime’s go-to solution will be to borrow more, further worsening the debt crisis while offering no real plan to secure the future of the working masses.

This spells disaster for the so-called “Budget of Restoration,” which now seems more like a budget of destruction. Instead of making a radical shift from dependency and debt, the government is expected to press the loan button again—either through the IMF, the World Bank, or other financial institutions—thus dragging the country further into a debt abyss.

This current path is clearly unsustainable, and it demands a serious response from organised labour. Trade unions must begin to mobilise workers and ordinary people to resist this debt-driven agenda, as more money will continue to be spent on debt servicing rather than on development.

Debt Servicing: Devouring the National Budget

In the 2025 budget, the Tinubu government allocated ₦16.3 trillion—nearly one-third of the total ₦54 trillion budget—to debt servicing. Even more troubling is that this amount represents 44% of the government’s expected revenue of ₦36.35 trillion for 2025. This means that almost half of the country’s earnings will go toward repaying debt rather than meeting the needs of its citizens. This exposes the real character of the regime: a government more committed to pleasing creditors and financial institutions than providing decent healthcare, education, housing, and jobs.

Under this corrupt capitalist system, resources that could be used to improve the lives of ordinary Nigerians are instead squandered on servicing debt, funding the luxury lifestyles of politicians, and recycling more loans—deepening the crisis. This vicious cycle will persist until the working masses take decisive action to end it.

The Buhari Years and “Ways and Means” Abuse

The Buhari administration’s reckless borrowing is a continuation of the current crisis. One of its most dangerous and irresponsible tools was the “Ways and Means” method—an arrangement that allowed the federal government to borrow directly from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) under the pretence of addressing short-term emergencies. In reality, it became a backdoor channel for unchecked spending without accountability. Through this method, the CBN printed the sum of ₦22.7 trillion, which not only ballooned the national debt but also triggered massive inflation, driving up the cost of living for ordinary people.

These anti-poor economic policies placed the burden of the crisis squarely on the backs of the working masses, who were made to suffer rising food prices, joblessness, and deteriorating living conditions, while the political elite continued to live in luxury without consequences. What’s more alarming is that the Tinubu administration appears to be following the same disastrous path. Instead of breaking from the past, it has continued to replicate the same policies that plunged the country into this mess.

A Call to Action

Under this corrupt capitalist arrangement, the suffering of the people will only worsen. While politicians live extravagant lifestyles funded by taxpayers’ money, the majority of Nigerians are left to wallow in poverty and hopelessness.

It is time for the leadership of the trade unions and the broader working class to begin asking critical questions about the direction in which the economy is being run. The status quo—marked by corruption, mass suffering, and endless debt—has clearly failed and cannot deliver anything meaningful for the majority. The current system only benefits a tiny clique at the top while millions are plunged deeper into poverty and hopelessness.

We must begin to organise, not just for reforms within this broken structure, but for a complete and decisive break from this exploitative capitalist system. Only a working people-led alternative—one organise on socialist planning and democratic control by the working people themselves. Only through mass mobilisation and struggle can we take back control of our future and build a society that truly serves the interests of the many, not the few.