Top 28 Nigerian state governors with highest debt in 2022, 11 leave massive debts for successors

About 28 governors leaving office in May 2023 or seeking re-election including the Minister of the Capital Territory have amassed about N5.8 trillion in sub-national debts.

The figures are based on the reports of the Debt Management Office (DMO) on sub-national debts.

List of governors seeking re-election

Out of the 28 governors, 11 are eligible for re-election in March 2023.

They include Governors Mohammed Yahaya of Gombe; Babagana Zulum (Borno); Abdullahi Sule (Nasarawa); Seyi Makinde (Oyo); Mai Buni (Yobe); Bello Matawalle (Zamfara); Babajide Sanwo-Olu (Lagos); Ahmadu Fintiri (Adamawa); Dapo Abiodun (Ogun); Bala Mohammed (Bauchi) and Abdulrahman Abdulrazak of Kwara state.

Outgoing governors are Emannuel Udom (Akwa Ibom); Samuel Ortom (Benue) Ifeanyi Okowa (Delta); David Umahi (Ebonyi); Mohammed Abubakar (Gombe) Aminu Masari (Katsina); Bello Bagudu (Kebbi); Abubakar Bello (Niger); Aminu Tambuwal (Sokoto); Simon Lalong (Plateau) and Darius Ishaku of Taraba.

The sub-national debts are categorised into domestic borrowings from local creditors and external loans from foreign or international creditors such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF).

According to information on domestic and external debt available on DMO’s website as of September 30 and June 30 respectively, domestic debts amount to N4.38 trillion while the states accumulated about $3.15 billion or N1.42 trillion.

States with highest debts

The DMO data further shows that Lagos has the highest debt with N877.04 billion in domestic debt and $1.27 billion in foreign debt. Kaduna State is next with a domestic debt of N86.86 billion in domestic debt and external debt of $586.78 million.

The third highest indebted state is Rivers with a domestic debt of N225,51 billion and foreign debt of $140.18 million. Cross River comes next with N175.2 billion in domestic debt and $215.75 million in external debt.

Others are:

Ogun with N241.78bn domestic debt and $122.73m foreign debt.

Bauchi has N144.28bn domestic debt and $172.76m external debt.

Enugu N89.89bn and $123.02m

Kano N125.19bn and $109.42m

Abia N104.57bn and $95.63m

Adamawa N122.48bn and $77.01m.

Other debtor states include:

Akwa Ibom N219.62bn and $46.567m

Benue N143.37bn and $30.47m

Borno N96.33bn and $18.7m

Delta N272.61bn and $60.05m

Ebonyi N67.06bn and $59.84m

Gombe N139.1bn and $46.93m

Jigawa N44.41bn and $27.61m

Katsina N62.37bn and $55.82m

Kebbi N60.13bn and $42.40m

Kwara N109.55bn and $45.94m

Nasarawa (N72.63bn and $53.73m) N98.26bn and $69.27m

Oyo N160.07bn and $76.97m

Plateau N151.90bn and $33.74m

Sokoto N85.58bn and $37.13m

Taraba N90.81bn and $22.28m

Yobe N92.86bn and $23.09m

Zamfara N109.69bn and $29.33m.