Nigeria’s total public debt for federal and state governments rose by 10 per cent, year-on-year to N159.27 trillion at the end of the fourth quarter of 2025 compared to the N144.67 trillion recorded at the end of Q4’24, the Debt Management Office has reported.

According to DMO, the figure represents an increase of N5.98 trillion compared to N153.29 trillion recorded at the end of the previous quarter (Q3’25) and N14.6 trillion higher than the figure recorded in the correspondent period of the previous year (Q4’24).

In a statement on Wednesday, DMO noted that the public debt profile consists of the domestic and external debt stocks of the federal and subnational governments — the 36 states and the federal capital territory. According to the debt office, the total domestic debt was N84.84 trillion ($59.11 billion), while the total external debt was N74.42 trillion ($51.85 billion). In addition, DMO said domestic debt stood at N74.38 trillion in December 2024, representing an increase of N10.47 trillion or 14.1 percent to the current figure, while foreign debt increased by N4.14 trillion from N70.29 trillion recorded in December 2024.

The debt office further said that out of the total domestic debt, the federal government accounted for N80.48 trillion – higher by N2.67 trillion compared to the Q3 figure. Also, the domestic debt stock owed by states and the FCT increased slightly to N4.36 trillion – up from N3.96 trillion in the previous quarter. For foreign debt, the federal government accounted for N66.26 trillion ($51.85 billion) while states and the FCT had N8.15 trillion ($5.68 billion). DMO noted that the Central Bank of Nigeria official exchange rate of N1,435.25 kobo/$1 as at December 31, 2025 was used in converting external debt to naira.