In a span of six months, 13 newly inaugurated state governors have collectively incurred a debt of N226.8bn from both domestic and international lenders.
Moreover, 16 governors have escalated their states’ debt profiles by N509.3bn, comprising N243.95bn in local debt and $298.5m (N265.37bn) in foreign debt.
The foreign debt amount was determined using the N889/$ exchange rate from the Debt Management Office’s report.
This data is derived from the DMO’s most recent reports on sub-national debt, which distinguish between local loans from national creditors and international loans from global financiers like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
According to the DMO’s website, the reported domestic and international debts were recorded as of December 30 and June 30, 2023, respectively.
The states, including Benue, Cross Rivers, Katsina, Niger, Plateau, Rivers, Zamfara, and the Federal Capital Territory, secured N115.57bn from national lenders, while governors from Ebonyi, Kaduna, Kano, Niger, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba, and Zamfara states obtained $125.1m (N111.24bn) from international sources.
A detailed examination of the figures shows that Cross Rivers Governor, Bassey Otu, secured the largest loan, with N16.2bn from local and $57.95m from international creditors between June and December 2023.
Katsina State’s debt witnessed a significant increase of N36.93bn, escalating from N62.37bn to N99.3bn by the end of December 2023.
Niger State experienced a substantial rise in its domestic debt by N17.85bn, jumping from N121.95bn in June to N139.8bn by December.
Other states such as Plateau received N16.32bn; Rivers took on N7.07bn; Zamfara, N14.26bn; and the FCT, under Nyesom Wike’s leadership, borrowed N6.75bn from domestic lenders.
Regarding international debt, Governor Francis Nwifuru of Ebonyi State accrued $37.54m, while Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State took on $17.69m from foreign lenders.
Additionally, the governors of Kano accepted $6.6m; Niger, $1.27m; Plateau, $831,008; Sokoto, $499,472; Taraba, $1.51m; and Zamfara, $655,563, from international sources.
Contrary to President Bola Tinubu’s administration’s initial declarations to halt the extensive borrowing practices of its predecessors, the current government appears to be adhering to the contentious policy despite an uptick in revenue.
In the year 2023, state governors received the highest Federal Account Allocation Committee disbursements seen in over seven years. The increase in FAAC allocations across all government levels, particularly to the states, came in the wake of the Tinubu administration’s petrol subsidy removal and currency reforms, which allegedly resulted in a 40% increase in income.
The 2023 FAAC monthly allocation analysis indicated that sub-national and local government councils were allocated the highest sum of N627.73bn in September, followed by N610.5bn in December, N555.75bn in August, N533bn in November, N514bn in July, and N497.97bn in October.
