The Debt Management Office (DMO) released new data on Tuesday that showed Nigeria’s total public debt had reached ₦ 159.28 trillion as of December 31, 2025.
The number is higher than the ₦ 153.29 trillion that was recorded at the end of September 2025. This shows that the country is becoming more dependent on borrowing to pay its bills.
The data shows that the debt stock grew by ₦5.98 trillion from one quarter to the next, which is a 3.9% increase from September to December 2025.
The DMO did say, though, that the December 2025 numbers are not final and were based on the Central Bank of Nigeria’s official exchange rate of ₦1,435.2571 to the dollar. The September numbers were based on ₦1,474.85/$1.
Nigeria’s public debt went up by ₦14.61tn, or 10.1%, from ₦144.67tn in December 2024 to ₦159.28tn in December 2025. This is a year-on-year increase.
The debt stock also went up a lot in dollars, from $94.23 billion to $110.97 billion, which is an increase of $16.75 billion over the course of a year.
Domestic debt made up the biggest part of the total debt profile. It went up from ₦81.82tn in September 2025 to ₦84.85tn in December 2025.
This is a 3.7 percent or ₦3.03 trillion increase from the previous quarter. Domestic debt grew by ₦10.47 trillion, or 14.1%, from ₦74.38 trillion in December 2024 to ₦74.38 trillion in December 2025.
In dollars, domestic debt went up from $55.47 billion in September 2025 to $59.12 billion in December 2025, up from $48.44 billion in December 2024. This shows that the country still relies on the domestic market for financing.
The FG Has Most of the Domestic Debt
Naija News saw that the numbers showed that the Federal Government was responsible for ₦80.49 trillion of the domestic debt, which is 50.53 percent of the total public debt.
States and the Federal Capital Territory, on the other hand, made up ₦4.36 trillion.
Debt from outside the country rises to ₦74.43 trillion.
As of December 2025, Nigeria’s external debt was ₦74.43tn, which was 46.73% of the total public debt.
This is an increase of ₦2.95tn from ₦71.48tn in September 2025 and ₦4.14tn from ₦70.29tn in December 2024.
External debt went up from $48.46 billion in September 2025 to $51.86 billion in December 2025, and it went up from $45.78 billion in December 2024.
The Federal Government also borrowed the most money from outside the country, with ₦66.27tn of the total external debt. The states and the FCT borrowed ₦8.16tn.
Even though Nigeria’s total debt went up, the structure of its debt portfolio stayed mostly the same.
Domestic debt made up 53.27% of all debt in December 2025. This was a little less than the 53.37% recorded in September 2025, but more than the 51.41% recorded in December 2024.
On the other hand, external debt was 46.73 percent in December 2025, down from 46.63 percent in September 2025 and 48.59 percent a year earlier.
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