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Claim: An X user claims that the Nigerian government has just received a £50 billion loan from North Korea.
Verdict: Insufficient evidence! There is no public record that North Korea loaned £50 billion to Nigeria. In addition, North Korea cannot loan Nigeria because it lacks the financial capacity and the legal freedom to do so.
Full Text
In addition to the global institutions Nigeria owes money to, an X user @I_am_Tkgold claimed that the Nigerian government has just received a £50 billion loan from the Government of North Korea.
The post (archived here) is beginning to draw attention as several X users are now asking the claimant for evidence of his claims.
For example, Olalekan Oyedeji wrote, “This sounds very unlikely. North Korea giving Nigeria a £50 billion loan? Do we have any credible sources or official confirmation for this? Misinformation spreads fast; let’s verify first.”
Apart from Olalekan, other users, such as @favor_million and @Freelancer_Ib, termed the claim “misinformation.”
However, @I_am_Tkgold insisted that he got his information from a “divine source,” which he has refused to name.
In addition to comments, the post, as of March 11, 2026, has garnered 557 likes and 216 reposts. It has also appeared on Facebook here and here.
DUBAWA decided to verify this claim, given its economic significance and the traction it is already getting.
Verification
DUBAWA searched and found no public record of Nigeria borrowing money from North Korea.
We contacted Wale Edun, the Minister of Finance, and Taiwo Oyedele, the newly appointed Minister of State for Finance, by phone and WhatsApp. We, however, have not received a response to our inquiries.
We also spoke to Kimiebi Ebienfa, Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He said he has no information about the claim and redirected us to the Ministry of Finance.
So we researched North Korea’s financial state and funding history. We found out that North Korea does not have that amount of money to lend to any country. As of 2024, North Korea’s gross national income was estimated at about $32 billion, approximately £23 billion. The £50 billion that the claimant said Nigeria borrowed is more than double the value of everything North Korea produced in that year.
Even if North Korea had this money, it does not have the legal backing to loan it to Nigeria or any other country within the United Nations’ (UN) purview. North Korea operates under the ideology of self-reliance and is economically isolated. But more importantly, the global community has collectively imposed some of the world’s “most restrictive legal and economic barriers” to cut the country off from the international financial and trade systems.
Presently, the only country with the kind of close relationship that could warrant a loan-exchange with North Korea is China.
In addition, North Korea is cut off from the “SWIFT” global payment system. This means there is no way to transfer the money to Nigeria, if at all.
Aside from these factors, Nigeria cannot borrow from North Korea, as such borrowing would violate UN Security Council Resolutions. If this happens, Nigeria would likely face sanctions from the UN, the United States (US), or the European Union (EU), which may leave negative impact on Nigeria’s economy.
Conclusion
There is no evidence to support the claim that Nigeria received a £50 billion loan from North Korea. Apart from that, North Korea lacks the financial capacity to provide that amount to any country. Even if it did, North Korea is legally restricted by the UN from loaning money to Nigeria or any other UN member country.
