Seven northwestern states owe N254.9 billion as of September 2024

By solacebase.com On Jan 28, 2025

DMO, Debts, Kano, Katsina, Jigawa, — Seven northwestern states owe N254.9 billion as of September 2024

By Aminu Abubakar

A SolaceBase review of Debt Management Office (DMO) data has shown that the 7 Northwestern States owe N254.9billion domestically.

According to the newly published data by DMO, Kano is the most indebted Northwestern state with a total debt portfolio of N61.9 billion.

Zamfara state leads the pack of most indebted states domestically with a debt portfolio of N60.6 billion, another Northwestern State Sokoto owes N58.8 billion.

Jigawa is the least indebted state with a debt figure of N1.2 billion, Kaduna is N26.6 billion, Katsina state owes N30.5 billion domestically while Kebbi State owes N15.3 billion on the domestic front.

This would mean that in total seven Northwestern states owe N254 billion domestically.

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This debt comes amid concerns about the over-reliance of states on loans, a development blamed on poor revenue.

The report shows that externally as of June 2024, Kano owes $123.3 million, Kaduna $640.9 million, Katsina $112.9 million, Sokoto $52.1 million, Jigawa $25.1 million, Kebbi $57.2 million, Zamfara owes $27.5 million. On the external front, Kaduna leads the pack.

Kano State is said to have a population of around 15.4 million persons, which would mean that the debt per capita locally in the state stood at N4019 as of September 2024. That is each person in Kano State owes N4019 locally.

With a population of over 5.833 million persons, the debt per capita in Zamfara stood at N10,389 per person as of September 2024 locally.

Sokoto State population stands at around 6.3 million persons, this would put the debt per capita in the state at N9333 per person locally.

Jigawa State has a population of 4.3 million persons putting the debt per capita at N279 per person locally.

High debt portfolio has meant that states spend heavily on debt servicing.

In the first six months of 2024, Katsina State earned N10.5 billion as internally generated revenue.

Katsina state spent N12.7 billion on debt servicing, Kano state government spent N60 billion on debt servicing between January and June 2024.

This is according to data from the debt management office as of June 2024.

The high loan portfolio comes amid high unemployment in the states.

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics, the multi-dimensional poverty index of 2022 pegs the unemployment rate in Kaduna state at 44.3%, in Kogi the figure stands at 39%, that of Niger state was put at 38.8%, Jigawa stood at 38.7%, Kano 25.4%.

In Kano 10.51 million persons are said to be poor, 8.04 million persons are said to be poor in Kaduna, the figure stands at 6.92 million in Katsina, Sokoto has 5.81 million poor persons, Jigawa state recorded 5.76 million poor persons.