12 states from northern Nigeria that are already drowned in huge debts that would take tens of years to offset are poised to take another huge loan to the tune of N730.91 billion to support funding their 2024 budgets, WikkiTimes can report.
The states are Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara and Nasarawa.
This is coming after huge increase in their monthly Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) grants from the federation account following the removal of the fuel subsidy by President Bola Tinubu.
WikkiTimes findings show that the 12 states have expressed intentions to borrow a total sum of N730.91 billion from both internal and external sources to fund their 2024 budget deficits.
According to details of the borrowing plans reported in the Daily Trust, Adamawa State will borrow N68.46 billion; Bauchi, N59.08 billion; Benue, N34.69 billion; Borno, N41.71 billion; Jigawa, N1.78 billion; and Kaduna, N150.1 billion.
Others include Kebbi, N36.7 billion; Katsina, N163.87 billion; Kogi, N37.08 billion; Kwara, N30.76 billion; Nasarawa, N32.93 billion; Gombe, N73.75 billion.
Domestic Debt
The states, according to WikkiTimes analysis of their debt profile from the Debt Management Office (DMO), have a cumulative domestic debt of N644,334,122,762.02.
WikkiTimes findings also indicate that the five top domestic indebted states among them include Benue – N116,731,681,881.13; Bauchi – N108,388,805,147.97; Adamawa – N103,556,376,158.41; Gombe – N70,810,781,008.35; and Kwara – N59,071,666,365.52.
Other states trailing with their domestic debt include Kogi – N38,552,462,453.80; Katsina – N38,064,193,319.45; Borno – N36,893,069,035.31; Kaduna – N29,381,672,391.53; and Nasarawa – N23,757,049,057.13.
According to the data, the two states with least domestic debt are Kebbi – N17,055,426,839.69 and Jigawa – N2,071,939,104.73.
External Debt
Apart from the local debt, the states also are hugely indebted to multilateral and Bilateral organisations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, CHINA EXIM BANK, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), INDIA, KfW Bankengruppe(German state-owned investment and development bank, (KFW), Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), and Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD).
According to DMO, the total external debt of the states as of March 2024 stands at USD 1,246,171,357.23.
Recall that in states like Kaduna, the governor, Uba Sani, had already lamented that debt servicing was gulping substantial part of the state FAAC grant allocation.
WikkiTimes analysis shows that Kaduna is the most indebted in foreign debt with USD 587,072,213.55; followed by Bauchi with USD 187,634,642.09; Adamawa – USD 103,196,881.89; Gombe – USD 54,881,154.07; Kogi – USD 51,174,954.62 and Nasarawa – USD 51,888,170.46.
Other states include Katsina – USD 50,310,685.90; Kebbi – USD 40,295,693.43; Kwara – USD 44,562,401.68; Jigawa – USD 25,795,436.01; Benue – USD 29,871,346.98 and Borno – USD 20,487,776.55.
CNG Cautions Against Mortgaging Future
The Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG), in an interview with WikkiTimes, through its National Coordinator Comrade Jamilu Aliyu Charanchi faulted the governors for seeking fresh loan facilities despite non-transparent management of the previous loans and increased revenues accrued to the states.
Comrade Charanchi said the states should focus on judicious utilization of their resources to better the lot of their people than creating financial burden that will mortgage the future of the states and set trap for future leaders.
The leader of the pan-northern group added that the states need to entrench the culture of accountability and prudent management of their resources.
“With the proposed local government autonomy, CNG is going to ensure its structures across the entire LGAs in the 19 northern states including the FCT are monitoring how public funds are managed,” said Charanchi.
He added that “I think that is not the best for states to be taking loans recklessly and end up mortgaging the future of the states and the next generation.”
 grants from the federation account following removal of the fuel subsidy by President Bola Tinubu.){kind=link}