By Desire Emmanuel
Legal icon and founder of Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD), Chief Afe Babalola (SAN) on Saturday expressed worries over Nigeria’s growing debt burden, saying it has made its reputation deteriorating and discourages foreign investments.
Babalola said this on Saturday in Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, during the 2025 International Leadership Conference on Leadership, Governance, Sustainable Change and Wealth Creation hosted by ABUAD, Nigeria Trinity Western University (TWU), Vancouver, Canada, and African Centre for Leadership, Strategy and Development (CentreLSD)
Speaking on “Shaping Transformational Leaders for a Changing World: Tackling Insecurity, Governance and Development,” the legal icon described the theme of the event as “most appropriate at this time of our development,” noting that the nation’s financial situation had become alarming.
He said the worsening debt profile was undermining investor confidence, adding that the local financial sector is equally feeling the strain, citing complaints from banks that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been unable to honour government promissory notes.
He therefore called for urgent reforms and responsible fiscal management to restore economic stability, investor confidence, and sustainable development in Nigeria.
He said: “The theme of this conference is most appropriate at this time of our development. The record shows that Nigeria as at today is a big debtor country, Nigeria’s total public debt is put at N152.4 trillion or $99.7 billion.
“Consequently, most business companies from other countries do not want to invest in this debtor country. As I am talking to you now, I know as a fact that our banks are complaining that the Central Bank is not honouring Promissory Notes issued by government on the allegation that the Federal Government in in debt and cannot pay the Central Bank.
