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The Federal Government has said it will not publish specific details of how it plans to spend funds drawn from its $5bn financing facility with First Abu Dhabi Bank.
Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, said the facility had already gone through the required approval process and was designed mainly to refinance more expensive government debt.
Oyedele spoke on Wednesday during a media briefing in Abuja, amid scrutiny of the financing arrangement and concerns raised by the International Monetary Fund and Fitch Ratings over its transparency and associated risks.
The Federal Government recently drew about $1.5bn from the $5bn Total Return Swap facility. The National Assembly approved the arrangement on March 31, 2026.
Responding to questions about whether details of the transaction would be made public, Oyedele said the government would disclose information on its spending but questioned why the Abu Dhabi facility was receiving particular attention.
“We will not publish how we are spending it. We will publish how we spend government money. There’s nothing special about that loan,” he said.
He added, “Nobody has asked us whether we’re going to publish the money we took from the World Bank, whether we publish the one from Eurobond, whether we publish the one from Sukuk. Why is this one special?”
Oyedele also rejected suggestions that the transaction bypassed due process, stressing that it had been presented to the National Assembly.
“The loan was approved not only by FEC, it was taken to National Assembly because what some people are doing is they comparing with other countries where they did it under the table,” he said.
“What else can be more public than what you gave to the National Assembly?”
The minister explained that the government was drawing the funds in phases to avoid paying costs on money that had not yet been used, while noting that the facility carried a flexible interest rate.
“We’re assessing it in phases. You don’t want to take all the money at once because if you don’t spend it at once, you incur cost on the extra amount you’ve taken,” he said.
Oyedele said the facility would allow Nigeria to benefit if interest rates fell, unlike existing fixed-rate debt.
“This First Abu Dhabi Bank transaction is flexible rates. It means if rates go up, we pay more. If rates come down, we benefit more,” he said.
He maintained that the government’s main objective was to refinance more expensive debt and reduce borrowing costs, while promising that the Ministry of Finance and the Debt Management Office would publish frequently asked questions on the facility in the coming days to provide further clarification.
