Abstract

Nigeria’s debt at independent was put at about N488.8 million which was mainly long-term development soft loans. The world economic recession and fall in price of oil in 1982 were identified as major factors that led many countries to debt crisis. Nigeria’s debt accumulated due to gross mismanagement of resources and loans contracted as well as failure of governments to keep-up with repayment schedules. This paper assesses the management of Nigeria’s debt. It examined the role of International Financial Institutions (IFIs) in discussing the politics of Nigeria’s debt management vis-à-vis motivational factor behind consideration for loans, disbursement and at what rate?

The paper employed both primary and secondary sources of data. Primary data was sourced from Debt Management Office, National Bureau of Statistics, Central Bank of Nigeria and National Institute for Social and Economic Research while secondary data was sourced from journals, books, official government gazettes and internet. Data was analyzed using descriptive method.

The result of the analyses revealed that 79% of the respondents agreed that Nigeria’s oil contributed to its huge debt accumulation and denied it debt cancellation. Also 65% believed that government has been prudent in managing the nation’s debt with every action taking in the interest of the people even when it failed to keep up with repayment schedules.

The dependency theory formed the basis of discussion and analyses in this work. It concluded that, oil was a major factor behind the granting of loans to Nigeria as well as responsible for fiscal irresponsibility on part of the government which led to the failure of efficient management of such loans. This paper recommended that there should be prudent management of the economy while all forms of corruption must be eradicated to bring about real development.

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