In the first six months after taking office, 13 new state governors collectively borrowed N226.8bn from domestic and external financiers.
According to sources, the 16 state governors also increased the debt profile of their states by N509.3bn with domestic and external debt of N243.95bn and $298.5m (N265.37bn), respectively.
The external debt was calculated based on the exchange rate of N889/$ used by the Debt Management Office in its report.
This is according to an analysis of the latest sub-national debt reports released by the DMO.
The sub-national debts are classified into domestic borrowings from local creditors and external borrowings from international creditors like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
The domestic and external debts published on the DMO’s website were as of December 30 and June 30, 2023, respectively.
The states, which include Benue, Cross Rivers, Katsina, Niger, Plateau, Rivers, Zamfara, and the Federal Capital Territory, got N115.57bn from domestic creditors, while governors of Ebonyi, Kaduna, Kano, Niger, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba and Zamfara states borrowed $125.1m (N111.24bn) from external sources.
