From Wealth to Chains: How the World Bank and IMF Drowned Nigeria and Africa in Debt

By George Omagbemi Sylvester

For Sahara Weekly Nigeria | www.saharaweeklyng.com

In the 1970s, the Nigerian Naira was worth more than the U.S. dollar and British pound. A dollar exchanged for 70 kobo. One Naira fetched £1.10. Our roads were tarred, our universities ranked among the best in the world and our economy was booming with oil money, agricultural exports and a burgeoning middle class. Nigeria was not just the “Giant of Africa” in name; we were a respected economic force.

But today, in 2025, we are caught in a web of poverty, debt and dependency. Our once-mighty Naira now exchanges for over ₦1,400 to $1. More than 133 million Nigerians live in multidimensional poverty. Basic infrastructure has collapsed. How did we fall so far? What went wrong?

The Rise Before the Fall

Nigeria’s economic boom in the 1970s was driven by two key forces: oil and agriculture. We were the world’s largest exporter of palm oil, groundnuts and cocoa. The oil embargo of 1973 tripled global crude prices and flooded Nigeria with petrodollars. Between 1970 and 1979, the country earned over $40 billion from crude oil. Our external debt was almost nonexistent. The Naira was strong and respected.

Then the oil bubble burst.

The global oil crash of the early 1980s hit Nigeria hard. Foreign reserves dried up. Corrupt leadership, wasteful spending and weak institutions magnified the crisis. Seeking salvation, Nigeria turned to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, a fateful decision that would enslave us for generations.

Enter the Debt Trap
The Western financial institutions dangled loans before desperate African leaders like poisoned carrots. Nigeria accepted them and with those loans came deadly conditions known as Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) a neoliberal model that destroyed Africa’s economies and social fabric.

SAPs forced countries like Nigeria to:

Devalue their currency, making imports more expensive and reducing the purchasing power of citizens.

Remove subsidies on fuel, healthcare and education.

Deregulate and privatize public assets, handing critical sectors to foreign corporations.

Open markets to foreign goods, killing local industries and jobs.

Between 1980 and 1990, Nigeria’s external debt ballooned from $3 billion to over $30 billion. We borrowed to repay interest on previous loans. The IMF’s “solutions” proved catastrophic. In less than a decade, the Naira collapsed. Nigeria’s economy became externally controlled. Poverty exploded.

As the late Thomas Sankara, former president of Burkina Faso, famously said:

“Debt is a cleverly managed reconquest of Africa, aimed at subjugating its growth and development through foreign rules. We are told how to govern, how to eat, how to educate, how to work and even how to die.”

Economic Colonialism Repackaged
Africa’s debt crisis is not merely economic; it is political, ideological and neo-colonial. These so-called “loans” are structured to enslave. According to former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo,

“We had paid $35 billion on a $5 billion debt and still owed $32 billion. If that is not madness, then I don’t know what is.”

The IMF and World Bank preach “fiscal discipline,” yet turn a blind eye when billions are looted from African nations and stashed in Western banks. These institutions never penalize corruption because it benefits them. The more we borrow, the more we owe. The more we owe, the more they control.

Nigeria, like many African countries, was forced to cut public spending even as it continued to repay debt. Hospitals became death zones. Schools rotted. Industries shut down. Yet we were told this was “economic reform.”

Currency Devaluation: The Silent Killer
One of the most devastating weapons used against Nigeria was the forced devaluation of the Naira. Under IMF dictates, Nigeria was told to let its currency “float” to find a market rate. In truth, this was a calculated attack on the local economy.

In 1985, ₦1 exchanged for $1. By 1999, it was ₦90 to $1. Today in 2025, we are looking at ₦1,400 to $1. This isn’t just poor governance. It is economic warfare dressed in Western jargon.

Devaluation benefits foreign investors and multinational companies who buy Nigerian resources dirt cheap. It hurts local manufacturers, farmers and the average Nigerian who now pays 500% more for essential goods.

As Kenyan scholar Prof. PLO Lumumba stated:

“Africa is not poor. It is being impoverished. The theft is organized, systematic and maintained by institutions that profit from our misery.”

From Economic Leadership to Global Beggars
In the 1960s, countries like Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea were on the same economic level as Nigeria. Today, they are industrial giants. What did they do differently?

They invested in education, innovation and industrialization. They protected local industries and refused to blindly follow Western economic prescriptions. They said “No” to IMF loans. Nigeria and much of Africa, on the other hand, sold their economic souls for cheap loans and false praise.

As Ghanaian Pan-Africanist Kwame Nkrumah warned:

“We must unite now or perish. We must recognize that our economic independence resides in our African identity and not in Western handouts.”

Today’s Reality: Nigeria Is Paying for a Crime It Didn’t Commit
According to the World Bank, Nigeria now owes over $110 billion in public debt as of 2024. We spend more than 60% of our revenue servicing debt, leaving less than 40% for infrastructure, healthcare, education and job creation.

Worse still, a large portion of these loans never even reach the people. They are mismanaged, embezzled or used to repay interest on older loans. This is generational robbery. Our children and grandchildren are being mortgaged to pay for the failures and betrayals of past regimes.

What Must Be Done?
Enough is enough. Nigeria and Africa must break these chains or remain enslaved. We need a radical economic awakening, starting with:

Rejecting odious and illegitimate debts that were stolen or misused.

Building intra-African trade and regional currencies to reduce reliance on the dollar and euro.

Investing in manufacturing and agricultural value chains, not importing toothpicks and petrol.

Demanding the return of stolen funds hidden in Western banks with full interest.

Ending dependency on IMF/World Bank prescriptions and forming our own African Development Agenda.

Africa must no longer be treated as a pawn on a Western chessboard. We are 1.4 billion strong, sitting on the world’s richest minerals and fastest-growing youth population. It’s time we reclaimed our future.

Final Thoughts: The Real Battle Is Economic Freedom
Nigeria is not poor. We are rich in oil, gas, human capital, arable land and creativity. But we are poor in visionary leadership and economic independence. We cannot keep borrowing our way into prosperity.

This is a call to all patriotic Nigerians especially our youth. The real fight today is not with guns but with economic awareness, policy reform and collective pressure. The true liberation of Africa will not come from foreign aid. It will come when we say NO to debt slavery and YES to African-owned solutions.

As Wole Soyinka wisely said:

“The greatest threat to freedom is the absence of criticism.”

Now is the time to criticize, question, reform and rise.

Published by Sahara Weekly Nigeria – www.saharaweeklyng.com
Author: George Omagbemi Sylvester
Political Analyst | Economic Commentator | African Patriot