Lagos leads the rest of states in Nigeria in a $2.4bn foreign debt. A detailed breakdown of figures from the Debt Management Office (DMO) revealed that Lagos, Kaduna and Cross River States recorded the highest external debt stock of $611.25 million (25.64 percent), $215.68 million (9.05 percent) and $113.03 million (4.74 percent) respectively in 2012.

Conversely, Borno, Delta and Plateau States had the lowest debt stock, ‘booking’ relatively paltry $14.15 million, $18.99 million, and $21.93 million, representing 0.59 percent, 0.80 percent and 0.02 percent respectively.

Additional information from the DMO shows that States borrowed more external loans last year than they did in previous years.

(See below Table for ALL the state allocation for May 2013, and the debt profile for each state)

Despite massive internally generated revenue and huge federal allocation (Lagos state allocation for the month of May 2013, is N30b), Lagos is sinking in debt! What is shocking is the level of secrecy surrounding this debt profile, the state is not forthcoming on the actual amount owed external creditors just as a high level of secrecy surrounds the exact amount of internally generated revenue, IGR.

Available records indicate 24 billion naira is collected monthly as IGR, using former governor Bola Tinubu's company, Alpha Beta as agents, but experts say the amount could quite higher.

Critics say the ambiguity in the monthly accrual IGR is due to the fact that the sum raised is quickly appropriated by the governor and his mentor, Asiwaju Tinubu.

Lagos state Commissioner for Budget and Planning, Mr. Ben Akabueze, said he could not give specific figures on the state’s debt profile.

Akabueze said: “We are not talking of static figure. By the time we conclude today’s activities, the figure must have either moved up or down. “If you are expecting me to give you specific amount, I am not going to do that,” he said.

The commissioner described as immaterial, the issue of ascertaining the exact amount of debt.

“What is going round as the figure is, at best, an aggregate sum. However, what is important is the sustainability of the debt. In Lagos State, the aggregate debt amounts to less than one percent of annual revenue. Because of this, it is not correct to say the State is having financial problem”, the Commissioner said.

After paying a total of $76.78 million for debt service in 2012, the total external debt stock of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, now stands at $2,384,178 million, according to official figures released by the Debt Management Office (DMO).

According to the Director-General of the DMO, Mr. Abraham Nwankwo, who was guest speaker at the Citizen Newspaper’s Annual Public Lecture in Lagos, last month, State governments borrowed more external loans last year than they did in previous years.

The DMO observed that total State Governments’ external debt stock as at the end of December 2012 represents 36.53 percent of the total external debt stock of the country.

Meanwhile, the Kaduna State Government has been under pressure over domestic and foreign debts incurred to finance various programmes, which the opposition considers as elephant projects.

The State’s foreign debt stock has reportedly hit over $380 million and domestic debt N45 billion since the former governor, and now Vice President, Alhaji Namadi Sambo, handed over to the late former Governor, Patrick Yakowa.

It is believed that debt servicing took a toll on the State’s economy, dwarfing the developmental efforts of the deceased governor, Yakowa.

The Kaduna State Chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) recently urged Governor Yero to resign if he could not run the State without foreign loans. State Chairman of the Party, Mohammed Soba, in a statement called on the State Assembly to probe all foreign loans obtained by Governor Yero with a view to ascertaining their economic viability.

The debt profile of Cross River State is estimated at about N80bn. Much of the debt was incurred during the construction of Tinapa Business and Leisure Resort, as well as the Cable Car in Obudu Mountain Resort under the administration of former Governor Donald Duke.

The State Governor, Senator Liyel Imoke, in his 2012 Budget presentation, had stated that, “as a state, we are committed to meeting our debt servicing obligations. In 2011, we spent over N10bn on servicing of our local and international debt obligations.

The various arms of government must take advantage of both the domestic and external market to mobilise resources to grow the economy, to generate employment/growth and reduce poverty.

Nwankwo noted that inefficiencies in public debt management, prior to the establishment of the DMO in 2000, had pushed Nigeria into unsustainable external debt. According to him, “there were a lot of inefficiencies in Nigeria’s public debt management to the extent that debt/credit auctions were scattered in the various departments of government. Of course, that was one of the factors that caused our unsustainable external debt.”

Below is the STATE ALLOCATION FOR MAY 2013

1. Akwa Ibom. 31LGCs. N69.4bn

2. Rivers. 23 LGCs. N67.6bn

3. Delta. 23 LGCs. N62.2bn

4. Bayelsa. 8 LGCs. N50.4bn

5. Kano. 44 LGCs. N34.5bn

6. Lagos. 20 LGCs. N30.0bn

7. Katsina. 34 LGCs. N25.5bn

8. Ondo. 18 LGCs. N24.8bn

9. Oyo. 33 LGCs. N24.6bn

10.Kaduna. 23 LGCs. N23.7bn

11 BORNO. 27 LGCS. 22.1BN

12 NIGER. 25 LGCS. 22.1BN

13.IMO. 27LGCS. 21.9BN

14.JIGAWA. 27LGCS. 21.6bn

15.BAUCHI. 20LGCS. 21.4BN

16.EDO. 18LGCS. 20.6BN

17.BENUE. 23LGCS.20.2BN

18.SOKOTO. 23LGCS. 19.8BN

19.KOGI. 21LGCS. 18.8BN

20.OSUN. 30LGCS. 18.76BN

21.ANAMBRA. 21LGCS. 18.74BN

22.ADAMAWA. 21LGCS. 18.6BN

23.KEBBI. 21LGCS. 18.3BN

24.OGUN. 20LGCS. 17.8BN

25.ABIA. 17LGCS. 17.48BN

26.TARABA. 16LGCS. 17.3BN

27.YOBE. 17LGCS. 17BN

28.PLATEAU. 17LGCS. 16.9BN

29.ZAMFARA. 14LGCS. 16.7BN

30.CROSS RIVERS. 18LGCS. 16.5BN

31.ENUGU. 17LGCS. 16.4BN

32.KWARA. 16LGCS. 15.6BN

33.EKITI. 16LGCS. 13.8BN

34.NASSARAWA. 13LGCS. 13.67BN

35.GOMBE. 11LGCS. 13.65

36.EBONYI. 13LGCS. 12.6BN

37.FCT-ABUJA. 6LGCS. 3.2BN



STATES TOTAL: 894BILLION NAIRA

38 FGN/FCT. 730BN

39 NCS/FIRS. 6BN

GRAND TOTAL: 1.6TRILLION NAIRA



BELLOW IS THE LIST OF HUGE DEBT PROFILE FOR ALL STATES IN THE FEDERATION

Its Time to ask Governors, like Fashola what they have been doing with all these debts they have accrued despite the huge monthly allocation they get from the Federal Govt.

Are these huge debts warranted especially by a state like Lagos with a massive monthly Internal Generated Revenue (IGR) of more than 50 billion Naira?

Note, below are just external debts and not Local debts owed to contractors, bankers etc..

Kano owes $61.7million

Katsina owes $74.6million

Akwa Ibom owes $61.6 million

Cross River owes $113million

Kebbi owes $47.8million

Kogi owes $33.8million

Imo owes $51.9million

Kwara owes $45.5million

Lagos owes $611.2 million

Nassarawa owes $36.9 million

Kaduna owes $215.6million

Niger owes $29.7million

Anambra owes $26.7million

Ogun state owes $102million

Ondo owes $51.8 million

Osun owes $62.7million

Oyo owes $76.6million

Plateau owes $21.9million

Rivers owes $36.6million

Jigawa owes $33.6million

Gombe owes $31.7million

Enugu owes $50million

Delta owes $18.9million

Ekiti owes $36.1million

Edo owes $42.7 million

Ebonyi owes $41.5million

Bayelsa owes $28million

Bornu owes $24.1million

Benue owes 28.4million

Bauchi owes $67.1million

Adamawa owes $30.2million

Abia state owes $35.9 million


http://www.elombah.com/index.php/special-reports/16940-mortgaging-the-future-of-lagos-and-other-states

So this what tinubu is doing to the yuroba states.