Working People Cannot Continue to Shoulder the Cost of Capitalist Misrule

By Lateef Adams

“Tinubu’s borrowing in 24 months surpasses 55 years’ debt records” was the striking headline carried by guardian.ng on May 25, 2026. The report captures the growing concern among millions of Nigerians over the unusual borrowing spree of the Tinubu administration. For working people already battling soaring inflation, unemployment, rising food prices, and worsening poverty, the continuous accumulation of public debt can only mean one thing, more hardship today and even a heavier burden tomorrow.

Equally disturbing is the manner in which  every loan request from President Bola Tinubu receives almost automatic approval from the National Assembly. Rather than exercising its constitutional responsibility of scrutinising government borrowing, the National Assembly has increasingly become a rubber stamp for the executive. Within a short period of about 30 days apart, it approved a fresh borrowing request of about $6.9 billion, followed immediately by another request of $516 million, with little or no serious public debate about how these loans will be repaid or how previous borrowings have been used.

According to the Debt Management Office (DMO), Nigeria’s total public debt stood at ₦159.28 trillion as of December 2025. This represents an astonishing increase from the ₦87.38 trillion debt inherited by the Tinubu administration in May 2023. In just two years, the country’s debt has risen by more than ₦70 trillion, representing an increase of over 80 percent. This level of borrowing is unusual in Nigeria’s recent history and raises serious questions about the direction of the economy.

Unfortunately, the APC government’s neoliberal capitalist programme has not differed fundamentally from the anti-poor policies pursued under previous PDP administrations. Successive governments have relied on borrowing, privatisation, deregulation, and austerity while neglecting productive investment capable of creating jobs and improving living standards. Under Buhari, the notorious “Ways and Means” financing expanded public debt by over ₦23 trillion. Instead of reversing this trend, the Tinubu administration has deepened it by embracing the same capitalist policies that continue to mortgage the country’s future.

Yet, despite these enormous borrowings, there is little evidence that the lives of ordinary Nigerians have improved. On the contrary, living conditions have deteriorated sharply. Since assuming office, the Tinubu government has removed the fuel subsidy, leading to an astronomical increase in petrol prices. Transport fares, electricity tariffs, cooking gas, food prices, school fees, rents, and the cost of virtually every essential commodity have risen beyond the reach of millions of families.

The government justified these painful measures by claiming that the savings would be redirected towards infrastructure and national development. However, ordinary Nigerians are yet to witness any meaningful improvement. Roads remain in deplorable condition, hospitals lack basic equipment, public schools continue to deteriorate, electricity supply remains unreliable, and flooding has become a recurring national disaster due to years of neglected drainage systems and poor public infrastructure.

Despite recording significantly higher government revenues from fuel subsidy removal, increased taxation, and fresh borrowing, the reality for the majority remains one of worsening hardship. Allegations of corruption, inflated contracts, financial mismanagement, and reckless public spending continue to dominate public discourse. Rather than seeing visible improvements in public services, Nigerians are repeatedly asked to make more sacrifices while privileged ruling elites continue to enjoy extravagant lifestyles funded by public resources.

The recent tax reforms further demonstrate the class character of the present administration. While the government seeks to expand revenue collection, there is little evidence that these additional resources are being used to improve education, healthcare, housing, transportation, or social welfare. Instead, working people continue to pay more while receiving less from the state.

Perhaps the greatest disappointment has been the silence of the leadership of the organised labour movement. At a time when workers face unprecedented attacks on their living standards, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) should be leading a nationwide campaign against the government’s anti-poor economic policies. Mere press statements condemning hardship are no longer sufficient. Workers require decisive leadership capable of organising mass resistance against policies that continue to transfer the burden of economic crisis onto the shoulders of the poor.

The growing debt crisis is not simply the result of poor management; it is a product of a capitalist system that places the interests of big business, international finance institutions, and political elites above the needs of ordinary people. Borrowing itself is part of the problem. Not just in the context for whose benefit, and who eventually pays the price, but in the fact that loans are often used to enrich a privileged minority, and procurement is under the conditionality of higher taxes, increased tariffs, subsidy removals, wage suppression, and cuts to essential public services as guarantee for meeting the serving and repayment schedule.

The working class and poor must not be made to pay for a crisis they did not create. Nigeria possesses enormous human and natural resources capable of providing decent jobs, quality education, modern healthcare, affordable housing, reliable electricity, and functional infrastructure. The obstacle is not a lack of wealth but a capitalist system that concentrates the wealth of the country in the hands of tiny numbers of elites.

It is therefore imperative to repeat the call on the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) to immediately begin mobilising workers, youths, students, and poor communities for a nationwide struggle against the anti-poor policies of the Tinubu regime. We demand full public accountability for every kobo borrowed, an end to reckless borrowing, and the redirection of public resources towards meeting the needs of the majority. At the same time we cannot continue to wallow in the refusal of the labour leaders to provide the necessarily leadership for the entirety of the working masses to come on the arena of struggle not just to resist the ending onslaught by the Tinubu on working and living conditions but as well as set the agenda for an end to the Tinubu regime and the capitalist system.

It means that going forward there is the need for the small forces of the left to unite under the singular agenda to commence of an initiative to seize the time to organise the working masses and working class youth in the workplaces, communities and as well as on campus.

Bearing in mind that the debt crisis cannot be permanently solved under a capitalist system that prioritises profit over people. The Nigerian working masses must develop the necessary socialist consciousness to conduct the struggle against capitalism armed with a socialist alternative programme, wrestle power and bring the commanding heights of the economy under public ownership and democratically management by workers and the poor.