By Ayo Kehinde
The Federal Government recorded fresh borrowings of N11.89 trillion in the first nine months of 2025 but spent only N3.10 trillion on capital projects within the same period, highlighting a widening gap between debt accumulation and infrastructure execution.
This is according to the 2025 Third Quarter Budget Implementation Report released by the Budget Office of the Federation.
The report showed that total borrowing exceeded the government’s three-quarter projection of N10.34 trillion by N1.54 trillion, representing an increase of 14.91 percent.
However, capital expenditure performance remained significantly weak.
Out of the N17.58 trillion budgeted for capital projects during the period, only N3.10 trillion was utilised, representing just 17.66 percent implementation and leaving a shortfall of N14.48 trillion.
The figures indicate that the government borrowed nearly four times more than it spent on capital projects, raising concerns over fiscal efficiency and the slow conversion of debt into productive infrastructure.
A breakdown of the borrowing showed that domestic borrowing accounted for N7.08 trillion, while multilateral and bilateral project-tied loans stood at N4.81 trillion, far above the N2.52 trillion budgeted for the period.
Despite the heavy borrowing, the report revealed that capital expenditure tied to multilateral and bilateral loans recorded zero utilisation, even though N2.52 trillion had been budgeted under that category.
Analysts say the development points to implementation bottlenecks, delayed project execution, and weak absorptive capacity within the public sector.
The borrowing surge also comes amid elevated interest rates, with the Central Bank of Nigeria maintaining the Monetary Policy Rate at 26.5 percent as part of efforts to contain inflation and stabilise the naira.
Sustained government borrowing could continue crowding out private sector access to credit while increasing debt servicing pressures across the economy.
