APC Controlled States Are The Most Indebted – Report

The Debt Management Office, while revealing the statistics in Abuja, said that Lagos, Kaduna and Edo States are the most indebted states of the federation.

According to the statistics, the three states which are under the control of the All Progressives Congress, APC are indebted with a combined profile of $1.84bn.

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.

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.

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.

Punch reports that the 36 states of the federation and the FCT grew their external debts by $1.37tn in five years.

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.

Recall that the DMO revealed that the nation’s current debt profile stands at N16.29tn.