A Nation That Won’t Pay Yesterday’s Bills Has No Tomorrow, The quiet, unfashionable work of settling Nigeria’s inherited obligations

By Otunba (Dr.) Abdulfalil Abayomi Odunowo

There’s a kind of governance that yields no ribbon-cuttings, no named highways, no front-page photographs. It’s the unglamorous work of paying yesterday’s bills.

That’s why the Federal Government’s settlement of outstanding severance benefits for former Nigeria Airways workers matters far more than the headlines let on. Some of these Nigerians waited more than two decades after the airline’s liquidation. The government has reported an ₦18 billion settlement covering 2,700 former workers, with 2,100 already paid in batches 1–7 and arrangements in motion for the remaining 600.

Nigeria Airways isn’t some isolated case. Since May 2023, the Tinubu administration has had to confront a sizable portfolio of inherited obligations piled up across successive governments. These are not “Tinubu’s debts.” They are Nigeria’s debts. A change of president does not wipe away the legitimate obligations of the Federal Republic.

Pensions: Lives, Not Ledger Entries
Nowhere is the human toll clearer than in pensions. The administration approved an intervention of approximately ₦758 billion to clear outstanding pension liabilities and accrued rights under the Contributory Pension Scheme. The National Pension Commission has indicated that this addressed liabilities affecting hundreds of thousands of retirees, many of whom had waited years.

Payments have also gone to former workers and pensioners of NITEL/MTEL, PHCN, and other defunct or privatised enterprises.
Behind every figure stands a person: an elderly Nigerian who can no longer pay rent, buy medicine, or support a family after decades of service. When government finally pays, it isn’t offering a gift. It is returning what the Nigerian state owes.

The $7 Billion Foreign-Exchange Backlog
When the administration took office, businesses, foreign airlines, and other economic actors were facing a backlog exceeding US$7 billion in outstanding foreign-exchange obligations. Clearing that backlog, including hundreds of millions owed to airlines, was not merely an accounting exercise. A country that cannot honour legitimate FX commitments loses credibility. Investors price in the risk, airlines rethink routes, suppliers demand extra protection, and ordinary citizens, sooner or later, pay the price.

Settling these liabilities was a necessary step toward restoring confidence that Nigeria can keep its word.

Contractors and the Economic Chain Reaction
Hundreds of billions of naira in verified contractor payments have been processed or approved. These are not abstract figures. A government contractor employs people, buys materials, borrows from banks, and owes suppliers. When payment is delayed or withheld for completed work, the debt moves down the chain: the contractor cannot pay the supplier, the supplier cannot pay workers, loans sour, projects stall, and businesses collapse. Government debt becomes someone else’s unemployment.

Power Sector: The Clearest Warning
Nigeria’s electricity market offers the starkest lesson in what happens when liabilities are left to pile up. Enormous debts accumulated, especially to power-generation companies. President Tinubu approved a structured programme to address verified historical liabilities running into trillions of naira. The first bond tranche under the Presidential Power Sector Debt Reduction Programme was approximately ₦501 billion.

The full multitrillion-naira liability has not yet been cleared. Still, beginning a transparent process of recognition, verification, and settlement is itself significant.

This Must Not Become Propaganda
Supporters will be tempted to turn every payment into political theatre. Opponents, for their part, will be tempted to wave it away simply because it happened under an administration they dislike. Both reactions miss the point.

Paying legitimate inherited obligations is not charity. It is the plain duty of responsible government. President Tinubu deserves credit for taking difficult decisions to settle liabilities that stretched across many years and multiple administrations. Nigerians, however, are entirely right to demand transparency:
* What was originally owed?
* How much has actually been paid?
* Who received the money?
* What remains outstanding?
* How were claims verified?

And then the biggest question of all: How do we stop today’s government from creating another mountain of unpaid obligations for the next one?

Government Is a Continuum
Nigeria must deepen the culture of institutional continuity. Presidents change. Parties change. The Federal Republic does not. If Administration A legitimately contracts an obligation on behalf of Nigeria, Administration B inherits it. That principle cuts both ways. A succeeding government should not abandon legitimate debts simply because it did not create them. An outgoing government should not recklessly heap up liabilities on the assumption that someone else will eventually pay. Both habits damage the country.

The Real Test
The emerging record of settlements, from Nigeria Airways workers and pension arrears to the FX backlog, contractor debts, and power-sector liabilities, deserves serious public attention. Not because every economic decision of the administration has been perfect. Not because Nigerians are not carrying real hardship. And not because paying a debt should ever be mistaken for doing someone a favour.

It deserves attention because a nation’s credibility is measured, in part, by whether its government honours its obligations. A country that continually postpones yesterday’s bills eventually mortgages tomorrow.

While Nigerians must scrutinise every figure and insist on accountability, we should also recognise a principle when we see it put into practice: a responsible government must have the courage not only to finance tomorrow’s promises, but also to settle yesterday’s legitimate debts. Nigeria cannot build a credible future while leaving generations of unpaid obligations behind.

The lesson is bigger than Tinubu. Bigger than any party or administration. It is about the integrity of the Nigerian state. Governments come and go. Nigeria’s word must remain its bond.

Signed
Otunba (Dr) Abeulfalil Abayomi Odunowo
National Chairman AATSG
Asiwaju Ahmed TinubuvSupport Group.
Tuesday 15th September 2026.