Nigeria’s total public debt, comprising the debt obligations of the federal and state governments as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) increased to N144.665 trillion by December 31, 2024, against N97.34 trillion posted at the end of December 2023, the Debt Management Office (DMO) has revealed.
DMO report showed that while Lagos, Rivers, and Ogun states are the three most indebted states, with over N900 billion, N364 billion, and N211 billion debts, respectively, Jigawa State is the least indebted state with less than N2 billion debt.
This represented an increase of N47.32 trillion or 48.58 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) based on the latest statistics released by the agency.
According to the DMO, the increase was driven by both external and domestic debt components.
The steep increase in public debt figures in 2024 was traced to new external borrowings and the impact of naira depreciation, which raised the naira equivalent of dollar-denominated debt.
The debt management agency’s data equally revealed a quarter-on-quarter rise of 1.65 per cent from the N142.32 trillion ($88.89 billion) recorded at the end of September 2024.
It explained that the rise in public debt figures was largely propelled by significant increases in both external and domestic borrowings.
According to the DMO, Nigeria’s external debt portfolio soared by 83.89 per cent from N38.22 trillion ($42.50 billion) in December 2023 to N70.29 trillion or $45.78 billion) in December 2024, a development attributed to new external borrowings and the impact of naira depreciation, which led to a rise in the naira equivalent of dollar-denominated debt.
The DMO also disclosed that domestic debt posted an increase of 25.77 per cent from N59.12 trillion ($65.7 billion) at the end of December 2023 to N74.38 trillion ($48.44 billion) in December 2024.
While the federal government recorded considerable growth in its domestic debt portfolio, from N53.26 trillion to N70.4 trillion, indicating a 32.19 per cent increase, the domestic debt component of states and the Federal Capital Territory declined significantly from N5.86 trillion to N3.97 trillion, representing a 32.27 per cent drop.
A breakdown of the external debt component indicates that the federal government accounted for N62.92 trillion ($40.98 billion), while states and the FCT held N7.37 trillion ($4.80 billion) during the review period.
Similarly, the federal government accounted for N70.41 trillion ($45.86 billion) of the domestic debt, while states and the FCT held N3.97tn ($2.58bn).
Meanwhile, Lagos State has retained its top spot as the most indebted subnational with over N900 billion (N900,191,716,363.58), followed by Rivers State with over N364 billion (N364,393,017,734.54), and Ogun State with over N211 billion (N211,860,195,068.71).
In the league of 10 most indebted states are Lagos (N900,191,716,363.58), Rivers (N364,393,017,734.54 Ogun State (N211,860,195,068.71), Delta State (N199,575,659,736.39), Bauchi State (N143,948,069,260.24), Niger State (N140,739,523,757.12), Imo State (N126,144,102,593.35), Akwa Ibom State (N122,193,037,697.65), Benue State (N122,575,619,594.08, and Enugu State (N119,284,430,106.62).
In the same vein, 10 states are in the bottom league with the lowest debt profile.
They include Jigawa State with N1,329,234,426.88 (N1.329 billion), Ondo State,(N12,876,176,042.46, Kebbi State (N15,222,009,996.95), Ebonyi State (N18,112,026,850.56), Katsina State ((N25,679,586,232.65), Nasarawa State (N26,597,217,075.38), Borno State (N27,914,959,613.76), Anambra State (N28,684,540,143.05), Kogi State (N41,587,578,673.55), and Yobe State (N42,055,410,877.07).
From the figures released by the DMO, it also emerged that domestic debt service between January and December 2024 gulped a total of N5.969 trillion (N5,969,905,481,331.17).
Interest paid on Federal Government Bonds accounted for N4.689 trillion (N4,689,904,918,278.03) of the debt service obligation during the period.
Also, external debt service gulped a total of $4,656 billion during the same period, with multilateral loans accounting for $2,619 billion, bilateral loans – $570.67 million, and commercial loans, especially Eurobond, chalking up $1,152 billion, among others.
