Nigeria’s syndicated loans jump 21-fold to $2.86bn

Nigeria’s outstanding syndicated loans rose by $2.73bn in one year, increasing more than 21-fold as the Federal Government expanded its use of commercial financing for infrastructure projects, an analysis of Debt Management Office data by The PUNCH has shown.

The loans increased from $133.66m in March 2025 to $2.86bn in March 2026, representing a $2.73bn or 2,041 per cent increase within 12 months. The surge also significantly altered the composition of the country’s external debt, with syndicated loans rising from just 0.29 per cent of the total stock in March 2025 to 5.51 per cent a year later.

This comes amid concerns over Nigeria’s growing debt stock and the associated servicing obligations, particularly as the government increasingly taps commercial financing to fund infrastructure.

According to the DMO, Nigeria’s external debt stood at $45.98bn as of March 31, 2025, comprising $22.43bn in multilateral loans, $6.03bn in bilateral debt and $17.51bn in commercial obligations.

The commercial debt included $17.32bn in Eurobonds, $133.66m in syndicated loans and $54.36m owed to Deutsche Bank. At $133.66m, syndicated loans accounted for about 0.29 per cent of the country’s total external debt at the time.

However, the position changed significantly before the end of 2025. By December, the DMO recorded $2.51bn under “Syndicated Loans (Projects)”, alongside $4.63m owed to Standard Chartered Bank and $159.97m to UniCredit SPA. This brought identifiable syndicated facilities to about $2.68bn, excluding the separately listed $56.09m Deutsche Bank facility.

The $2.68bn represented about 5.16 per cent of Nigeria’s $51.86bn external debt at the end of 2025, compared with 0.29 per cent nine months earlier.

The exposure increased further in the first quarter of 2026. Unlike the December report, which grouped $2.51bn under syndicated project loans, the March 2026 DMO data identified four creditors under a separate “Syndications” category.

First Abu Dhabi Bank had the largest exposure at $1.87bn, followed by the African Export-Import Bank at $637.82m, UniCredit SPA at $319.27m and Standard Chartered Bank PLC at $30.51m.

Together, the four facilities amounted to $2.86bn, or 5.51 per cent of Nigeria’s $51.90bn external debt. Deutsche Bank’s $52.11m exposure was again listed separately.

This means that while Nigeria’s total external debt grew by about 12.9 per cent from $45.98bn in March 2025 to $51.90bn in March 2026, the stock of syndicated loans expanded by more than 2,000 per cent.

The $2.73bn increase in syndicated facilities was also equivalent to about 46 per cent of the $5.93bn overall increase in external debt during the period.

Syndicated loans allow several financial institutions to jointly finance a borrower, with the funding and associated risks shared among participating lenders. They are commonly used for transactions considered too large for a single lender and can provide governments and companies access to substantial financing for major projects.

The sharp increase in Nigeria’s exposure coincided with the Federal Government’s use of syndicated financing for the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway.

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In July 2025, the government secured a $747m syndicated loan for Phase 1, Section 1 of the highway, covering 47.47 kilometres from Victoria Island to Eleko Village in Lagos. The government described the transaction as the first syndicated road infrastructure loan of its size in Nigeria.

Deutsche Bank acted as global coordinator, initial mandated lead arranger and bookrunner, while other participants included First Abu Dhabi Bank, Afreximbank, the Abu Dhabi Exports Office, ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development, Nexent Bank and Zenith Bank. The Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit provided partial political and commercial risk insurance.

The immediate past Finance Minister, Wale Edun, said at the time that the transaction reflected renewed international appetite for Nigerian infrastructure financing.

“This deal reflects the success of our macroeconomic reforms and the return of international capital to support Nigeria’s development. We are focused on financing infrastructure in ways that are sustainable, transparent, and catalytic—and this transaction is a model of that vision in action,” he said.

Minister of Works, David Umahi, described the financing deal as a boost to the administration’s reform agenda. “This transaction is a vote of confidence in Nigeria’s economic reform agenda,” the minister said.

A second major financing followed in December 2025 when the government closed a $1.126bn facility for Phase 1, Section 2 of the coastal highway, spanning about 55.7 kilometres from Eleko to Ode-Omi.

The facility was fully underwritten by First Abu Dhabi Bank and Afreximbank, which provided $626m and $500m, respectively, with partial risk mitigation from ICIEC. The transaction brought financing secured for the two sections to $1.873bn.

The rising exposure nevertheless adds another layer to Nigeria’s debt obligations at a time when debt servicing continues to consume significant public resources.

The PUNCH earlier reported that Nigeria spent about $5.21bn servicing external debt obligations in 2025, accounting for more than 72 per cent of the country’s total international payments during the year, according to data obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Figures published on the CBN website indicated that external debt service rose from $4.66bn in 2024 to $5.21bn in 2025, representing an increase of $551.86m or about 11.9 per cent year-on-year.

The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, recently faulted Nigerians, especially analysts and commentators, for criticising government borrowing without considering the purpose, cost and expected returns of such debt.

Oyedele spoke in Abuja at the Fellowship Award Ceremony and 2nd Biennial Conference of the Capital Market Academics of Nigeria. He said, “When analysts go on TV and join the populist view to accuse the government of borrowing, you are doing a disservice. The relevant question is never simply how much debt.

“It is always debt for what and at what cost, against what return, and repaid on what terms. A nation, a state, or a business that borrows to finance a productive asset generating returns above the cost of that capital is not behaving recklessly; it is behaving rationally.”