This post has already been read at least 11347 times!
In a fiery and impassioned statement, the Labour Party has thrown its weight behind Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Tajudeen Abbas, for raising alarm over Nigeria’s ballooning debt crisis under President Bola Tinubu’s administration. The party described Abbas’ remarks as “a resounding example of objective patriotism” and called on Senate President Godswill Akpabio to follow suit.
“When there is too much sand in a soup, even the blind will notice,” the statement began, invoking a vivid metaphor to underscore the gravity of Nigeria’s fiscal situation. “That is what Rep Tajudeen Abbas, the APC’s own Speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives, has done.”
Signed by Prince Tony Akeni, the Labour Party’s Interim National Publicity Secretary, the release did not mince words in its condemnation of what it called President Tinubu’s “reckless borrowings.” Citing figures from the Debt Management Office and the Central Bank of Nigeria, the party revealed that Nigeria’s public debt surged from ₦121.7 trillion in December 2024 to ₦149.39 trillion by March 2025. Even more alarming, the debt-to-GDP ratio hit 52%, far exceeding the 40% ceiling set by Nigeria’s fiscal laws.
“What further worsens the alarming nature of the country’s debts,” the statement continued, “is the revelation that in the last nine months, Nigeria used ₦8.93 trillion or $6.2 billion to service her debts. This means that 61% of the country’s revenues of ₦14.55 trillion earned during the same period went into debt servicing!”
The Labour Party acknowledged Speaker Abbas’ delicate position as a member of the ruling APC and head of one of the legislative chambers that approved the loans. Yet, it argued that his public admission of the crisis deserves “commendation more than condemnation.”
“Speaker Abbas’ admission of President Tinubu as the architect-in-chief of Nigeria’s skyscraping debts, although coming somewhat late, calls for commendation,” the statement read. “It is better late than never.”
The party also took aim at Senate President Akpabio, urging him to rise above partisanship and resist rubber-stamping future loan requests. “Before Senate President Akpabio accepts another loan request from President Tinubu and railroads his assembly of she-men to chorus ‘the ayes have it,’ he should remember history,” Akeni warned. “Any people pushed to the wall by grinding poverty with nowhere to turn would defy all one day and turn on their oppressors.”
The Labour Party emphasized that Nigeria’s borrowing must be tied to tangible benefits for citizens. “The solution to preventing this is to end altogether the APC government’s prodigal borrowing and squandering of loans,” the statement declared. “The alternative is to, at the minimum, heed Speaker Abbas’ recommendations of strict oversight over loans and ensure commensurate returns in benefits to Nigerians.”
In a final rallying cry, the party called on all Nigerians to support Abbas’ call for “stronger oversight, transparent borrowing practices, and a collective resolve to ensure that tangible and social returns match every naira borrowed.”
As Nigeria grapples with its mounting debt burden, the Labour Party’s statement signals a growing chorus of dissent—even from within the ruling party’s ranks—against what many now see as an unsustainable fiscal trajectory.
This post has already been read at least 11347 times!
About the Author
