Top Oil-Producing States in Nigeria Are Highest Debtors, Despite Huge Derivations

Top Oil-Producing States in Nigeria Are Highest Debtors, Despite Huge Derivations

  • Oil-producing states in Nigeria received the highest federal allocation from the federal government over seven years
  • The states also received the 13 per derivation from FAAC as oil-producing states in the last seven years
  • However, the states are also the most indebted in the country, accounting for the bulk of Nigeria’s domestic and external debts

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A recent report has said that Nigeria’s oil-producing states are also some of the country’s biggest debtors, apart from Lagos and Kaduna.

According to the Debt Management Office (DMO), the total debts of oil-producing states increased from N2.04 trillion in December 2015 to N3.35 trillion as of the middle of 2022.

Delta State, Rivers State, Imo State, Bayelsa State
Nyesome Wike, Ifeanyi Okowa, Duoye Diri and Udom Emmanuel
Source: UGC

Top oil producing states

The figure indicates a total of N1.311 trillion in borrowings by the states in seven years.

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The top 10 states are Akwa Ibom, Delta, Edo, Abia, Ondo, Imo, Cross River, Bayelsa and Lagos.

The Punch reporting said that the states received about N6.4 trillion in federal allocation and 13 per cent derivation fund.

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, said the Nigerian government paid out a total of N1.98 trillion as a share of the 13 per cent derivation fund to oil-producing states under President Muhammadu Buhari.

Ahmed stated that the federal government gave the amount in the last years of Buhari’s administration.

As per the minister, one of the critical roles of her ministry is in support of the states, stating that Buhari understands that the country’s economy would not survive without the oil-producing states.

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River State governor Nyesome Wike had said that the oil-producing states had refused to disclose their earnings from the federal government to all the Niger Delta states from 1999 to date.

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The Finance Minister further said that the Nigerian government had supported states in Nigeria with N5.03 trillion and an additional $3.4 billion since 2015.

Top earners in 2022

She said the states got N445 billion as a salary bailout except for Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Jigawa, Lagos and Yobe in September 2015. Other states received N340 billion as an excess crude loan apart from Lagos and Osun.

Additionally, all the states received N160 billion as budget facility support aside from Lagos.

The States also received $2.67 trillion as a Paris Club refund; N750 million was paid in 2021 as an SFTAS reward, and N600 billion was paid as withdrawal from subsidy payment in April this year.

Top oil earners

The National Bureau of Statistics said the oil-producing states received about N4.46 trillion from the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) between 2016 and 2020 as payment for 13 per cent derivation. The amount later increased to N6.4 trillion.

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Delta State received the highest allocation of N804.27 billion in the same period under review, and Cross River got N147.86 billion, the least so far.

  • Akwa Ibom - N769.19 billion
  • Lagos, N523.63 billion
  • Rivers - N675 billion
  • Edo - N255,32 billion
  • Abia - N225.47 billion
  • Ondo - N250.86 billion
  • Imo - N234.37 billion and
  • Bayelsa - N575.39 billion.

The NBS stats said FAAC receives oil revenues, taxes and revenues from Nigerian Customs, company income tax, and sales of national assets, including surplus and dividends from state-owned enterprises.

Highest indebted states

The sub-national debt report of DMO said that the total indebtedness of the oil-producing states increased from N2.04 trillion in December 2015 to N3.35 trillion as of June 2022.

An additional breakdown indicates that in 2015, a total of N1.22 trillion came from domestic creditors, while external creditors contributed $1.84 billion.

About N2.42 trillion came from domestic debt, while $2.31 billion is from foreign sources such as the World Bank, The African Development Bank (AfDB).

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Lagos leads in total debt with N797.31 billion as of June 2022, followed by Delta State with N378 billion, Rivers with

In external debt, Lagos leads with $1.27 billion, followed by Edo with $268.31 million. Cross River follows with N$215.75 million in the period under review.

States in Nigeria with the highest external debts as National debt stock hits $41.77 billion

Legit.ng reported that according to the Debt Manage Management Office (DMO) Nigeria’s debt stock has hit about $41.77 billion as of March 2022.

A good number of these debts are external borrowings by states in Nigeria which contribute a large chunk of the total debt stocks.

Of the total external debt stock, Lagos State, Kaduna and Cross River are the leading states in Nigeria.

Source: Legit.ng

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