Nigerian States' Debt Servicing Reaches N800bn in 2026
In the first half of 2026, Nigerian state governments incurred N800.42bn in debt servicing, marking a 39.5% increase from N573.66bn in the same period of 2025. The analysis revealed that debt-service payments rose by N226.75bn, surpassing growth in recurrent revenue and total expenditure across 33 states with comparable data.
Lagos state contributed nearly one-third of the total payments, with its debt servicing increasing from N76.78bn in H1 2025 to N261.80bn in H1 2026, an increase of approximately 241%. This accounted for 32.7% of the total debt servicing and 81.6% of the overall increase.
Other states with significant debt servicing included Taraba (N40.75bn), Kaduna (N40.29bn), Edo (N37.66bn), and Ogun (N32.84bn). Notably, 10 states had debt-service bills exceeding their internally generated revenue.
The findings indicate a growing burden of debt repayments on state resources, with varying levels of pressure across different states.
Plus234Feed summary based on reporting from Punch Newspapers. Read the original report below.
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