Lagos State has the highest domestic debt among all 36 states and also has the highest foreign debt as at December 31, 2016, according to the Debt Management Office.
The state currently generates N26bn monthly as internal revenue.
DMO statistics show that the total foreign debts of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, as well as the Federal Government of Nigeria, FGN, was $11.406 billion as at December 31, 2016.
A breakdown of the figures showed that Lagos state topped the list of foreign indebted states with a total of $1.380 billion foreign debt.
It was followed by Kaduna with $222.8 million debt and Edo with $183.6 million foreign debt.
Similarly, Cross River and Ogun states were among the top debtors with $114.9 million and $103.4 million foreign debt, respectively.
The debt record, which had three components – Multilateral, Bilateral ND Eurobond – showed that Borno, Taraba, Yobe and Plateau are the least indebted states in foreign debts.
Borno, according to the figures, was indebted to the tune of $22.068 million; Taraba with $21.9 million; Yobe with $28.5 million and Plateau with $29.1 million in foreign debts.
The DMO also noted that the Federal Government of Nigeria, FGN, was indebted to the tune of $7.838 billion as at December 2016.
The DMO, therefore, put the total debts owed by the States and the federal government as at December 2016 at $11.406 billion.
Earlier in the week, Lagos State Government, said N312.820 billion was realized in 2016 from Internally Generated Revenue, IGR, a N64, 874 billion increase above 2015 income.
Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Akinyemi Ashade, said a breakdown of the total IGR by the state revealed that N26 billion was generated monthly on the average by the government within 2016.
Ashade disclosed that 420, 000 additional adults were captured into the state tax net, increasing the number of tax payers to five million and that N3.99 billion was already generated from Land Use Charge, LUC, in the first quarter of 2017.
“Total IGR for the year 2016 was N312.820 billion which represents 75 percent of the projection and 72 percent of total revenue, compared with N247.946 billion representing 80 percent of the projection and 69 percent of total revenue for year 2015.
“N436 billion represents total revenue for the state in 2016 as against N399 billion realized in 2015.”
Explaining part of the revenue source for the State, Ashade stated: “N7.156 billion was realized from LUC as against N6. 244 billion generated in 2015.”
He noted that public awareness campaigns embarked upon by the government contributed to the increase in revenue generation last year.
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