With a total sum of N1.58 trillion (N1,581,504,485,760.87), the six states of the South-West are topping the list of geo-political zones in the country with the highest domestic debt burden.

The 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) piled a total of N5.33 trillion (N5,337,751,456,173.93) domestic debt as of December 31, 2022, based on the latest debt data released by the Debt Management Office (DMO).

The domestic debt data report is usually generated from the signed-off submissions received from the 36 states of the federation and the FCT.

The South-West is trailed by the South-South region with a debt burden of N1, 203 trillion (N1, 203,189577,899.87) and North-East with N681.833 billion (N681,833,793,907.342).

North-Central is next with N660.340 billion (N660, 340, 372, 536.300 while the South-East with the least number of states in the country (five) has a debt burden of N553.774 billion (N553, 774, 975,135.49).

Incidentally, the North-West with the highest number of states (seven) only piled a total of N576 billion debt, slightly higher than the South-East with only five states.

Based on the latest domestic debt figures published by the DMO, Lagos State retained its number one spot as the most indebted sub-national government with a total of

N807.208 billion (N807,208,634,237.88) followed by Delta with N304.245 billion (N304,245,915,945.65) and Ogun State with N270.450 billion (N270,450,024,234.79).

What stands out was that some of the states recorded a significant increase in their debt burden.

For instance, Delta’s domestic debt which stood at N272,612,510,528.95 in the previous quarter (September 2022) jumped to N304,245,915,945.65 by December 2022.

Despite not updating its debt profile for over one year, Rivers State with a debt burden of N225,505,011,357 was fourth on the scale while Akwa Ibom with N219,265,319,660.24 was fifth, followed by Imo State with N204,224,291,725.13.

Jigawa retained its position as the least indebted state domestically with a burden of N43,952,167,579.02, followed by Kebbi State with N61,310,171,246.00 and Katsina State with N62,374,809,154.32

Ebonyi State which for many years was the second or third least-indebted state afterJigawa lost the position with a burden of N76,496,806,095.94.

It was also yet to be ascertained what the debt profile of Rivers State will look like when it finally updates its debt data report.

Its debt burden of over N225,505 billion was of September 30, 2021.

This meant that the state’s debt profile of N225.505 billion recently published by the DMO is about a year and three months behind the updated figures provided by 33 other states and the FCT.

In the same vein, Katsina State with a debt profile of over N62,374 billion last provided an update to the DMO as of September 30, 2022, same asTaraba with over 87,959 billion burden.

Incidentally, the governors of the three states—Rivers, Katsina and Taraba, which are yet to provide an updated debt profile are leaving office on May 29, 2023, one clear month before the DMO publishes the next public debt data in June. (THISDAY)

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