The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, has confirmed that Nigeria has accessed the first $1.5 billion from its $5 billion financing arrangement with First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB).

Mr Oyedele disclosed this while speaking to journalists after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja on Monday.

He said the financing facility, which had earlier received approval from the National Assembly, is intended to refinance expensive debt, fund infrastructure projects and support budget implementation.

“The approval for that loan went to the National Assembly, so everybody is aware of it. It’s for refinancing of expensive debts, financing of infrastructure, as well as budgets,” he said.

He added that, “So, we don’t want to start making press releases each time we do a drawdown. It is not different from any other loan.”

The minister’s comments provide the first official confirmation that the government has begun drawing on the financing package.

Last week, Bloomberg reported that Nigeria had accessed about $1.5 billion through a Total Return Swap with First Abu Dhabi Bank, marking the first utilisation of the broader $5 billion facility.

Mr Oyedele said the government deliberately structured the financing arrangement to allow funds to be accessed in tranches rather than all at once.

READ ALSO: FEC approves N215bn for CNG buses, $900 million agriculture financing – Minister

According to him, the approach is intended to reduce borrowing costs by ensuring Nigeria only pays interest on funds that have been drawn.

“The loan is meant to be a drawdown in tranches, and one of the advantages of that is, if you need $5 billion and you take everything at once, you start paying interest, even though you’re not spending all of it now. So, this has been structured in a way that makes us even more efficient in the cost of borrowing by taking what we need part time,” he explained.

Mr Oyedele said the phased approach forms part of the government’s broader debt management strategy aimed at lowering financing costs while meeting critical funding needs.

SpaceX founder Elon Musk has regained his trillionaire status after a rally in SpaceX and Tesla shares boosted his net worth by more than $60 billion, following a major decline earlier in June.

Shares of SpaceX rose 7.6 per cent, while Tesla gained 8.6 per cent as of Monday, increasing Mr Musk’s net worth by $62.3 billion to more than $1 trillion, according to Forbes.

On 24 June, the aerospace entrepreneur fell below the trillion-dollar threshold after his net worth declined by 31 per cent to an estimated $962 billion.

The decline followed a slump in SpaceX’s stock price and new restrictions on $116 billion worth of Tesla shares earlier in June.

Meanwhile, on 12 June, Mr Musk’s net worth rose to an estimated $1.1 trillion following SpaceX’s market listing on the Nasdaq stock exchange.

SpaceX’s stock jumped 40 per cent to an all-time high, pushing Mr Musk’s fortune to a record $1.45 trillion by 16 June before a significant drop in his net worth later in the month.

Shares surge

The surge in SpaceX and Tesla shares means Mr Musk now holds 4.8 billion shares of SpaceX and another 350 million stock options with an exercise price of $8.40 per share.

The latest development confirms that the Tesla founder remains the world’s richest person by a wide margin, ahead of Google co-founders Larry Page ($288.7 billion) and Sergey Brin ($266.3 billion).

Founded in 2002, SpaceX has grown from an experimental rocket startup into a leading force in aerospace, satellite communications, and AI infrastructure.

ALSO READ: Elon Musk loses trillionaire status as net worth drops

Its Starlink satellite internet business has expanded the company beyond space launches into a global connectivity platform.

Mr Musk built his fortune by co-founding Zip2 and PayPal before reinvesting the proceeds into SpaceX, Tesla, and other ventures.

He also owns xAI and X, which he acquired in a $44 billion deal in 2022 and later introduced monetisation features to strengthen the platform’s business.