By Joseph Edegbo :
In its last reports, Nigeria’s Debt Management Office (DMO) released debt profiles of all the 36 states and the federal capital territory (Abuja), with Borno emerging the state with lowest amount of debt nationwide.
According to the DMO report released at the end of June, 2021, Borno was followed by Taraba, Yobe and the FCT in owing the least amount of foreign debts.
Borno owes $16.70 million, Taraba- $20. 59 million, Yobe- $25.81 million and the FCT- $29.45 million, the DMO reports (see table below).
On the other hand, the report showed Lagos, Kaduna and Edo in that order, with the highest external debt profiles.
Lagos owes $1.38 billion, Kaduna- $559.50 million, and Edo-$ 281.47 million, Cross River- $184.60 million, Bauchi-$133.69 million, Enugu-$124.22 million and Adamawa- $116.49 million. Remaining states owe ranges of around $100m to $29 million each.
The DMO report indicated that Nigeria has an external debt stock of $33.46b equivalent to N13.8tr, where federal government owes $28.91b while the 36 states and the FCT owe a combine amount of $4.55b as external debt.
