Business
Nigeria Spends N643.6bn On Domestic Debt Servicing -DMO
The Federal Government spent N643.6 billion on servicing the nation’s domestic debt form January to March, says the Debt Management Office (DMO).
In its Quarterly Debt Data for Quarter one (Q1), obtained from its website on Wednesday in Abuja, it said the figure was the total actual domestic debt service for the three months.
It said N239.8 billion was spent on domestic debt servicing in January, N144 billion in February and N259.7 billion in March.
Giving a breakdown, it said N223.4 billion was interest on Nigeria Treasury Bills/Bonds (NTBs), while N411.7 billion was interest on Federal Government Bonds.
It also said the interest on the Federal Government of Nigeria Savings Bond stood at N241.8 million and that of Federal Government Sukuk was N8.167 billion.
It noted that N279.6 billion of NTBs were redeemed in the first quarter.
According to the data, Nigeria’s public debt stock as at March 31, stood at N22.7 trillion with external debt of the Federal Government, States and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) at N6.746 trillion.
Domestic debt of the Federal Government stood at N12.5 trillion, while domestic debt of states and the FCT stood at N3.38 trillion.
Giving a breakdown of the Federal Government domestic debt stock by instruments, it said Federal Government Bonds was N8.96 trillion (71.32 per cent).
It added that the Nigerian Treasury Bills amounted to N3.3 trillion (26.34 per cent), while Nigerian Treasury Bonds stood at N175.9 billion (1.40 per cent).
Others are the Federal Government of Nigeria Savings Bond of N7.780 billion (0.06 per cent), Federal Government of Nigeria Sukuk N100 billion (0.80 per cent) and Green Bond which stood at N10.690 billion (0.08 per cent).
The DMO’s primary responsibility is to manage public debt, this it does by introducing initiatives and products to support the development of the domestic market.
Nigeria issues sovereign bonds monthly to support the local bond market, create a benchmark for corporate issuance and fund its budget deficit.
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BVN Enrolments Rise 6% To 67.8m In 2025 — NIBSS
The Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) has said that Bank Verification Number (BVN) enrolments rose by 6.8 per cent year-on-year to 67.8 million as at December 2025, up from 63.5 million recorded in the corresponding period of 2024.
In a statement published on its website, NIBSS attributed the growth to stronger policy enforcement by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the expansion of diaspora enrolment initiatives.
NIBSS noted that the expansion reinforces the BVN system’s central role in Nigeria’s financial inclusion drive and digital identity framework.
Another major driver, the statement said, was the rollout of the Non-Resident Bank Verification Number (NRBVN) initiative, which allows Nigerians in the diaspora to obtain a BVN remotely without physical presence in the country.
A five-year analysis by NIBSS showed consistent growth in BVN enrolments, rising from 51.9 million in 2021 to 56.0 million in 2022, 60.1 million in 2023, 63.5 million in 2024 and 67.8 million by December 2025. The steady increase reflects stronger compliance with biometric identity requirements and improved coverage of the national banking identity system.
However, NIBSS noted that BVN enrolments still lag the total number of active bank accounts, which exceeded 320 million as of March 2025.
The gap, it explained, is largely due to multiple bank accounts linked to single BVNs, as well as customers yet to complete enrolment, despite the progress recorded.
