Nigeria’s public debt surged from N87.91 trillion (equivalent to 114.35 billion dollars) in the third quarter of 2023 to N97.34 trillion (about 108.23 billion dollars) in the fourth quarter of the same year, as reported by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in its Nigerian Domestic and Foreign Debt Report for Q4 2023 released in Abuja.
The report highlighted a notable increase of 10.73 percent in Nigeria’s public debt stock on a quarter-on-quarter basis, encompassing both external and domestic debts. External debt amounted to N38.22 trillion (approximately 42.50 billion dollars) in Q4 2023, while domestic debt reached N59.12 trillion (around 65.73 billion dollars).
The distribution of debt revealed that external debt accounted for 39.26 percent of the total public debt, while domestic debt constituted 60.74 percent during the same period.
Breaking down the figures by states, Lagos State emerged with the highest domestic debt, totaling N1.05 trillion in Q4 2023, followed by Delta with N373.41 billion. Conversely, Jigawa recorded the lowest domestic debt at N42.76 billion, trailed by Kebbi at N60.69 billion.
Furthermore, Lagos State carried the heaviest burden of external debt, amounting to 1.24 billion dollars, followed closely by Kaduna State with 587.07 million dollars. On the other end, Borno and Yobe recorded the lowest external debts, with 20.49 million dollars and 21.49 million dollars, respectively, according to the NBS data.