Once again, the Nigerian media space has been awash with the news of how over ten States in the country have recently increased their domestic debt by ₦417.7bn year-on-year, despite a significant rise in revenue allocations from the Federation Account Allocation Committee.
According to one of the submissions, an analysis of the Debt Management Office’s quarterly reports on subnational debt has revealed that Rivers, Enugu, Niger, Taraba, Bauchi, Benue, Gombe, Edo, Kwara, and Nasarawa raised their combined debt stock from ₦884.9bn in Q1 2024 to ₦1.3tn in Q1 2025.
What is most appalling is that the above mentioned states are not going to stop this quest for loans while others will still definitely join.
Equally more worrisome is the fact that unnatural profligacy, financial recklessness and crass irresponsibility of most state governors is increasing by the day.
As seemingly unaccountable as the administration run by former President Muhammadu Buhari was, he constantly referred to Nigerian governors as being ‘unbothered’ by the way they were spending federal allocations during his time.
The incumbent Nigerian President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu has equally been talking about this at every given opportunity. He has been encouraging the people of the country to develop the habit of holding their governors accountable in all ways.
Experts on financial issues have also unanimously attributed the persistent fiscal fragility of Nigerian states to their economic non-viability and overreliance on federal allocations.
Presently, to make matters worse, the race to grab and/or sustain political positions has been jump-started far, far, ahead of schedule. The serious implication of this development is that monies meant for the development of states and local governments will be deployed illegally to lubricate campaign machines. And almost all political stakeholders including President Bola Tinubu are involved in this unfortunate act. 2027 is the major focus while Nigerians are wondering whether 2026 will be obliterated from the country’s calendar.
Nigerians deserve more from their President, Governors and others voted to be in positions of authority.
Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria!
