The debt stock data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revealed that – Lagos State has the largest debt burden among all states. The state’s debt stock is 35.61% of the country's foreign borrowings. Kaduna (5.79%), Edo (5.64%), Cross River 4.08% and Enugu 3.23%, are all clustered behind Lagos.
The debt stock data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revealed that the smallest state in Nigeria- Lagos, with a landmass of 3,345km, has the largest debt burden among all states.
The state’s debt stock is 35.61% of the country's foreign borrowings. Kaduna (5.79%), Edo (5.64%), Cross River 4.08% and Enugu 3.23%, are all clustered behind Lagos.
The spread of domestic debts is more even; Lagos takes up only 10.85% of the stock in this category. Sokoto state borrows quite little locally; it owes just 0.78% of aggregate borrowing within Nigeria.
However, the federal government owes 78.23% of the country’s entire debt stock as at 31st December 2017, while the states owe just 21.77%. Nigeria’s foreign debt profile stands at $18.9 billion and its local borrowings amounted to N3.35 trillion.
The Director, Portfolio Management, DMO, Dele Afolabi defended the increased foreign borrowing by the government, saying the funds were being utilised for infrastructure development. He explained: “Borrowing on its own is not a bad thing. Through borrowing, the country has been able to do a lot of things.
“We have finance infrastructure. So, to say we shouldn’t borrow, I don’t agree with that. You can borrow and use for developmental projects.
“Currently, we are refinancing domestic debts with external loans. We have brought down cost of domestic borrowing and ultimately the cost of servicing these debts will reduce.”
