Lagos And Edo States Are The Most Indebted Nigerian States

Lagos, Kaduna and Edo State are among other states listed most indebted states of the federation with a combined profile of $1.84bn.

According to statistics from the Debt Management Office in Abuja on Wednesday, the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory owe $3.65bn in foreign debts as against the $7.61bn owed by the Federal Government as of June 30, 2016; bringing the country’s total foreign debt to $11.26bn.

Lagos, which is the nation’s commercial hub, retained its topmost position as the most indebted state of the federation with a total of $1.43bn in foreign debts.

Thus, the state holds 39.17 per cent of the country’s total subnational foreign debts.

Kaduna State, with total foreign debt of $225.28m, comes in the second position. It holds 6.16 per cent of the subnational foreign debts.

Edo State, with a total of $179.52m as of June 30, holds 4.91 per cent of the country’s subnational foreign debts.

Other owing states in the subnational foreign debts include Cross River, $141.47m or 3.87 per cent; and Ogun, $103.55m or 2.83 per cent. Bauchi owes $97.23m or 2.66 per cent; Osun, $78.93m or 2.16 per cent; Adamawa, $77.14m or 2.11 per cent; Enugu, $74.46m or 2.04 per cent; Katsina, $68.99m or 1.89 per cent; and Oyo, $67.56m or 1.85 per cent. Some of the least indebted states of the federation are Borno, $21.89m; Taraba, $23.01m; Plateau, $29.24m; Yobe, $29.28m; Jigawa, $32.62m; Kogi, $33.56m; Benue, $34.26; FCT, $34.8m; Zamfara, $35.07m; and Delta, $42.21m. The external indebtedness of the subnational governments as of December 31, 2010 stood at $2bn.

However, by December 2015, it had risen to $3.37tn.