10 States Account For 67% Of N4tn Debt Burden

As the country continues to struggle under its debt burden, states in the country are not left out with a total debt of N4.002 trillion as at the end of September 2025 with the larger portion of the debt owed by a handful of states according to latest data by the Debt Management Office).

The DMO had recently released the debt stock of the country putting the total obligations of both the states and the federal government at N153.29 trillion as at the end of September 2025, of which the amount owed by the states and the Federal Capital Territory accounted for 2.61 per cent.

Of this figure, 10 states accounted for 67 per cent totalling N2.68 trillion as at the period under review. Lagos state led the pack of substantially indebted states with a debt profile of N1.045 trillion which is about 26 per cent of the total debt stock of all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja.

Rivers State was a distant second with a debt stock of N381.205 billion while Delta state’s debt stock stood at N247.171 billion. Enugu State came forth with a debt profile of N194.715 billion while Ogun and Bauchi states are indebted to the tune of N168.093 billion and N158.197 billion respectively.

Niger state followed with a debt profile of N143.469 billion while Cross River State and Benue State are indebted to the tune od N141.941 billion and N107.254 billion respectively. Akwa Ibom was at the bottom of the top 10 most indebted states owing N95.506 billion as at September 2025.