ADC Dares Tinubu to Name One Project Built With Trillions in Loans

The opposition African Democratic Congress Presidential Campaign Council (ADC-PCC) has challenged President Bola Tinubu to show Nigerians a single project delivered with the loans his administration has taken since 2023, accusing it of borrowing heavily while ordinary people struggle.

The council was reacting to a statement from presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga, who argued that what matters is what the government builds, not how much it borrows. The ADC-PCC called that an insult to Nigerians.

In a statement issued in Abuja by its Director of Media and Publicity, Kola Ologbondiyan, the council said the administration had little to show for its growing debt. It claimed the only visible project tied to electricity is a solar farm powering the Presidential Villa, while millions of Nigerians live with unreliable power.

“For three and a half wasted years, Tinubu government has borrowed without restraint and built nothing,” Ologbondiyan said.

He accused the government of announcing projects that exist only in press statements, apart from those inherited from the late President Muhammadu Buhari. He named the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway, the Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway, the Trans-Sahara Superhighway and promised electricity grid upgrades, describing each as “audio” and saying there was no commensurate progress on any of them. He also said the Abuja-Kaduna-Kano Highway, awarded more than eight years ago, still frustrates motorists.

The council painted a bleak picture of daily life. It said citizens are hungry, that people are dying from hunger and insecurity, and that ministries, agencies and directorates are failing to deliver. It said the government is more interested in self-congratulation than in confronting the hardship around it.

The ADC-PCC did not argue that borrowing is wrong in itself. “Borrowing is not inherently wrong when the benefits translate into improved living conditions for citizens,” Ologbondiyan said. The problem, he said, is piling up debt with nothing to show for it.

The council appealed to international donors, development partners and financial institutions to demand accountability and transparency before lending to Nigeria again. It also warned that future generations should not inherit debts that brought them no benefit.

It had pointed words for the National Assembly too, calling on lawmakers to stop acting as a “rubber stamp” for loan requests. “History will not forgive the 10th National Assembly if it stands by,” Ologbondiyan said.

The Presidency has defended its borrowing in similar exchanges before. Onanuga has said the administration borrows to finance infrastructure rather than consumption, and that willing lenders show Nigeria is credible and able to repay. Another presidential aide, Sunday Dare, has argued that highways such as Lagos-Calabar cannot be built without borrowing.