South-west leads as Nigeria’s domestic debt hits N4.18trn

The South-West region has the highest foreign and domestic debt stock among all the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria as the thirty-six states currently have a total domestic debt of N4.18 trillion as at 31st December 2020.

The South-West alone has a domestic debt burden of N1.52 trillion, accounting for 25.2 per cent of the country’s total subnational domestic debt.

The South-West states, without Lagos, have the third highest combined domestic debts in the country, with total domestic debts of N541 billion, behind South-South and North-Central.

However, when Lagos debt is added, the total domestic debts in the South-South region dwarfs other regions.

Breakdown shows Lagos State accounts for 44 percent of South-West region’s indebtedness with N508.77 billion domestic debt, although this represents a drop from the N542.23 billion recorded as at March 2019.

Lagos state’s external debt of $1.4bn represents 74.35 percent of the region’s cumulative foreign debt which stands at $1.8billion. The state was followed by Ogun State with N153.4 billion and US$103.4 million external debt.

Osun State with N134.1 billion domestic debt comes third and also has foreign debt stock of $107.4 million. Oyo State followed behind with N94.4 billion domestic debt and $83.7 million foreign debt.

Ekiti State with a domestic debt of N84.7 billion and US$103.3 million external debt is the lowest in the South-West region.

The South-West debt burden is closely followed by the South-South region with a domestic debt of N1.13 trillion and US$742.4 million foreign debt.

Edo state, with external debt of US$280.2 million, has the highest dollar debt in the region, followed by Cross Rivers, with total external debts of $192.4 million and Rivers, with $ 96 million.

On the domestic side, Rivers has the highest debt in the region, with a total domestic debt of N266.9billion, followed by Delta state, with total debts of N248.4 billion and Akwa Ibom, with total debts of N230.8 billion.

The oil-rich region of the South-South, besides federal allocation, also gets the 13 percent derivation.

The North Central region, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) is exposed to a total domestic debts of N591.3 billion. Plateau is the most indebted in the region, with total debts of N137.7 billion.

Plateau is followed by N126.1 billion domestic debt against Benue State and the FCT with N69.5 billion domestic debt.