A WikkiTimes review of the budget performance report of states has shown that Northern states spent the sum of N250.1 billion on debt servicing in 2023.
The states sampled are those with available budget performance report documents.
About 20% of the debt servicing expenditure was incurred by Plateau State with the sum of N51.3 billion spent. Fourteen states were sampled from the nineteen northern states.
Nasarawa spent the least amount with N5.24 billion.
Regional Distribution of Expenditures in Three Charts
A WikkiTimes review of budget performance documents has shown that five Northwestern states with available data for public debt charges spent over N81 billion for debt servicing in 2023. The states are Kano, Zamfara, Katsina, Jigawa, Kaduna.
Public debt charges are largely interests paid on accumulated debts by states. Experts have argued that these monies hinder development as they gulp billions of naira from the pockets of states, monies that could have been used for other developmental purposes.
Four Northeastern states also spent the sum of N66.8 billion for debt servicing, according to a review by WikkiTimes.
In the Northcentral States, the highest expenditure was made by Plateau with the sum of N51 billion while Nasarawa recorded the lowest with N5.24 billion.
There have been concerns on the overreliance of the region on funding from the federal allocation,a development that usually leads to states relying on loans to survive.
There have also been concerns that billions of Naira that could have been spent for developmental purposes are spent on servicing debts by states, depriving residents of the states critical infrastructural developments.
WikkiTimes will host a Twitter space discussion on March 30th, to discuss the way forward for the Northwestern region to tackle overreliance on federal allocation.
