The agency said in a statement yesterday that claims that Nigeria was facing penalties amounting to N41.31 billion were false.

The Office of the Director of Military Operations (DMO) urged Nigerians to ignore "misleading" news reports on the country's debt repayment. It said that they were false, and that the government was committed to meeting all its financial obligations.

The statement reads, “The attention of the Debt Management Office, DMO, has been drawn to a publication by some media houses claiming that Nigeria has defaulted in debt repayment to China for which it claimed “penalties stand at N41.31bn.

“The public is advised to ignore the publication as it is false.  A closer look at the media publication shows that the body of the publication is completely detached from the headline which gives the impression that the publishers of the report may have set out to mislead the public.

“The public is assured that Nigeria is fully committed to honouring its debt obligations and has not defaulted on any of its debt service obligations. The media report should therefore be dis-regarded.”