Lagos leads in debt profile with 11% of total states’ debt

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in a report on Thursday that Lagos State leads other states in the country in total public debt accounting for about 10.9 percent of the indebtedness of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The total domestic debt of the 36 states, including the FCT stood at N4.04 trillion as of the third quarter of last year.

Lagos State accounting for 10.9 percent of the total domestic debt stock while Yobe State has the least debt stock in this category with a contribution of 0.7 per cent to the total domestic debt stock,.

Nigeria’s total debt stock, including domestic and foreign debt, stood at N26.14 trillion as of the third quarter of 2019.

Lagos on Wednesday signed documents to receive the proceeds of N100.33 billion fresh 10-year bonds issued this month to fund infrastructural projects.

Although, Lagos was able to reduce its debt to N441.66 billion by the end of Sept. 2019 from N479.04 billion in June, representing a 7.8 per cent decline, the fresh borrowing by the state is bound to further raise the indebtedness of the centre of excellence higher.

Analysts said the fresh debt would definitely push up the portion of the state’s debt in proportion to the rest of the country.

Also, the 36 states and FCT net a total of N986.29 billion in Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) in the nine months to September 2019, compared with N692.49 billion recorded in the first six months of the year.

Lagos State, however, has the highest IGR in the period under review with N297.09 billion, closely followed by Rivers with N107.03 billion while Yobe State recorded the least Internally Generated revenue.