At the end of December 2022, state governments and the administration of the Federal Capital Territory owe N5.33 trillion in domestic debt. At the end of 2021, the sub-national domestic debt stock was at N4.46 trillion, an increase of N870 billion in a single year.
According to the most recent data provided by the Debt Management Agency, Lagos State has the highest domestic debt as of the end of Q4 2022, totaling N807.21 billion. Delta State came in second with N304.25 billion and Ogun State third with N270.45 billion.
In contrast, Jigawa State had the lowest debt at N43.95 billion, followed by Kebbi State and Katsina State with N61.31 billion and N62.37 billion, respectively.
Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, and Anambra owe, respectively, N103.7 billion, N124 billion, N219.2 billion, and N77.4 billion, while Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, and Borno borrowed, respectively, N143.6 billion, N146.3 billion, N141.3 billion, and N96.1 billion.
Other indebted states are Cross-River, N197.2 billion, Ebonyi, N76.4 billion, Edo, N110.5 billion, Ekiti, N117.1 billion, Enugu, N91.8 billion, Gombe, N139.3 billion, Imo, N204.2 billion, Kaduna, N83.3 billion, Kano, N122.3 billion, Kogi, N93.6 billion, Kwara, N109.3 billion, Nasarawa, N7
Oyo, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe, Zamfara, and FCT each had N161.1 billion, N149 billion, N90.5 billion, N87.9 billion, N90.7 billion, N112.1 billion, and N81 billion.
However, according to the DMO, the domestic debt stock for Rivers State was as of September 30, 2021, and figures for Katsina and Taraba states were as of September 30, 2022.
Reacting in an earlier interview, the Director, Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, Muda Yusuf, said the rising debt profile of the government raised serious sustainability concerns.
He said, “The government tends to argue that the condition was not a debt problem, but a revenue challenge; the truth is that debt becomes a problem if the revenue base is not strong enough to service the debt sustainably.
“It invariably becomes a debt problem and possibly a debt crisis. The government’s actual revenue can hardly cover the recurrent budget, which implies that the entire capital budget and part of the recurrent expenditure are being funded from borrowing. This is surely not sustainable.”
