ABUJA, Nigeria —
A pro-government advocacy group has criticized Nigeria’s opposition parties for opposing the Federal Government’s latest request for a $1.5 billion loan from the World Bank, dismissing their stance as driven by “acute ignorance and blatant mischief”.
In a statement issued on Sunday, the Tinubu Media Support Group (TMSG) said demands by political opponents for the global financial institution to reject the funding request revealed a fundamental lack of understanding of multilateral lending processes.
The group’s Chairman, Emeka Nwankpa, and Secretary, Dapo Okubanjo, argued that opposition figures were attempting to mislead the public over the country’s debt profile during an election cycle.”We indeed find it laughable that some opposition parties and individuals who are supposedly literate and should ordinarily understand governance issues are literally falling over one another to urge the World Bank to reject a recent $1.5 billion loan request by the President Bola Tinubu administration,” the statement said.
TMSG noted that the World Bank approves financing based on rigorous technical assessments—including macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability—rather than online campaigns by political figures. It added that Nigeria’s debt-to-GDP ratio, currently estimated between 35 and 40 percent, remains well within sustainable thresholds compared to other major African economies. According to official documents, the proposed $1.5 billion package comprises three separate $500 million credit facilities designed to expand social safety nets, improve early childhood development across all 36 states, and fund climate-resilience projects aimed at mitigating land degradation and farmer-herder conflict in northern Nigeria.
The group expressed confidence that the World Bank would assess the request strictly on its technical merits rather than political rhetoric.
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