A WikkiTimes review of budget performance documents has shown that states spent more on debt service than critical sectors.
Data review shows that eleven states reviewed for the purpose of this report spent the sum of N51.08 billion on debt servicing.
Review shows that of the eleven states, Kaduna state spent the highest amount of N16 billion, followed by Bauchi which serviced debt with the sum of N7.6 billion.
States such as Taraba spent N7.2 billion, Gombe N6.9 billion , Katsina N4.2 billion.
Kwara state spent N2.3 billion on debt service , Nasarawa N1.2 billion and Yobe N2.4 billion.
More on Debt Serving than Critical Sectors
Review shows that Kaduna state spent N1.208 billion on its Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs in the first three months of 2024, whereas it spent N16 billion on debt servicing.
Education gulped N10.9 billion, about six billion less than the figure for debt servicing.
The situation is not different in Katsina where the sum of N429.5 million was spent on internal security as against the N4.2 billion on debt servicing.
The Ministry of basic and secondary education could only spend N3.3 billion, while debt servicing gulped N900 million more.
In Gombe, while debt servicing took the sum of N6.9 billion, education took only N1.49 billion while health expenditure was N2.4 billion.
This simply means that key sectors pivotal development of these states get less financial attention as the state heavily spends on servicing its accumulated loans.
What is the value of the debt service expenditure?
Simply put “money that could have been used to build more schools, end up for debt servicing.”
Kaduna state budgeted to spend the sum of N1.9 billion on rehabilitation/repairs of public schools in 2024.
This would mean that the money it spent on debt servicing in three months alone is eight times it’s budget for rehabilitation and repairs of public schools in the whole of 2024.
The total budget for the rural water supply and sanitation agency for the whole of 2024 stood at N2.1 billion, however Kaduna state spent seven times the amount in three months on debt servicing .
In Gombe for instance, there have been cries on the number of out of school children, yet the state spends heavily on debt servicing than its expenditure for education.
Experts have warned that the continual borrowing of funds by Kaduna Northern states can hamper development, as monies meant for development will end channeled to debt servicing.
We Are Ready to Deal with Any Security Threat in Yobe- Army Sector Commander
