16 Governors Borrowed N226.8 Billion In 6 Months

16 Governors caused their states' debt to increase while 13 borrowed N226.8 billion in the six months

The Debt Management Office's most recent sub-national debt reports, upon investigation, reveal that, in the six months following their election, thirteen new state governors borrowed a total of N226.8 billion from both local and foreign lenders.

Similarly, with N243.95 billion in domestic debt and $298.5 million (N265.37 billion) in external debt, respectively, 16 state governors also raised their governments' debt profiles by N509.3 billion.

The DMO's report uses an exchange rate of N889/$ to compute the foreign debt.

The sub-national debts are categorized as external debt from foreign creditors such as the World Bank and the foreign Monetary Fund, and domestic debt from local creditors.

The DMO website stated that the external and domestic debts were as of June 30, 2023, and December 30, 2023, respectively.

The sub-national debts are categorized as external debt from foreign creditors such as the World Bank and the foreign Monetary Fund, and domestic debt from local creditors.

The DMO website stated that the external and domestic debts were as of June 30, 2023, and December 30, 2023, respectively.

The states, which comprise the Federal Capital Territory, Benue, Cross Rivers, Katsina, Niger, Plateau, Rivers, and Zamfara, received N115.57 billion from domestic creditors, while the governors of the states of Ebonyi, Kaduna, Kano, Niger, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba, and Zamfara obtained $125.1 million (N111.24 billion) from outside sources.

According to a more detailed analysis of the statistics for the sub-nationals, Bassey Otu, the governor of Cross Rivers, borrowed the most money between June and December 2023—N16.2 billion from domestic creditors and $57.95 million from foreign ones.

The debt in Katsina State increased next, going from N62.37 billion to N99.3 billion by December 2023, a rise of N36.93 billion.

Niger State is ranked third on the list, having incurred internal debt of N17.85 billion between June 2023 and December 2023, having increased from N121.95 billion to N139.8 billion.

Plateau received N16.32 billion from domestic creditors; Rivers borrowed N7.07 billion; Zamfara received N14.26 billion; and the Federal Capital Territory, led by Nyesom Wike, borrowed N6.75 billion.

Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State borrowed $17.69 million from outside financiers, while Governor Francis Nwifuru of Ebonyi State accumulated $37.54 million in external debt.

Additionally, the governors of Taraba ($1.51 million), Sokoto ($494,472 million), Zamfara ($655,563 million), Niger ($1.27), Plateau ($831,008 million), and Kano ($6.6 million) borrowed from outside sources.

Even though President Bola Tinubu's administration had stated that it would no longer be using the vast amounts of borrowed money from the previous government to pay for its expenses, recent events indicate that the new government is continuing the divisive approach in spite of higher revenue.

The Federal Account Allocation Committee gave state governors the largest amounts they had received in at least seven years in 2023.

The Tinubu administration's withdrawal of the gasoline subsidy and currency changes were followed by an increase in FAAC allocations to the three levels of government, particularly the states. Income is said to have increased by 40% as a result of the reforms.

The sub-national and local government councils received the largest allocation of N627.73 billion in September, followed by N610.5 billion in December, N555.75 billion in August, N533 billion in November, N514 billion in July, and N497.97 billion in October, according to an analysis of the 2023 FAAC monthly allocations.