FG, States Debts Hit $22 Billion

The Debt Management Office (DMO), on Wednesday August 29, 2018 put Nigeria’s external debt stock at $22billion. Out of the amount, the Federal Government’s quotient is $17.8 billion, while the combined debt portfolio by the states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) stands at $4.28 billion. Of the combined states’ figure, Lagos State, the commercial nerve-centre of Nigeria, has the highest foreign portfolio of $1.45 billion, or 33.88 per cent of the states’ debts.

The debt status from the DMO, the News Agency of Nigeria said, were as a June 30, 2018. Going by the data, the Federal Government accounts for 81 per cent of the country’s external debt, while the states and the FCT account for 19 per cent. Following Lagos in that sequence is Edo State which stands at a distant second with external debt of $279 million.

Others are Kaduna, $232.9 million; Cross River, $193.7 million; Bauchi, $134.9 million and Enugu, $127.9 million. The DMO listed other debtor states as Anambra which is owing $107.4 million; Oyo, $106.34 million; Ogun, $105.3 million; Osun, $101.5 million and Abia, $100.2 million. Others are Ekiti with a debt overhang of $97.9 million; Ondo $81.4 million; Rivers, $79.5 million; Ebonyi, $67.9 million; Kano, $65 million; Katsina, $64.7 million and Delta, $63.8 million.

Photo Caption: Patient Onihia DMO DG