•Owes N122.19billion in domestic debt, $35. 56million as foreign debt
•BudgIT report shows each A’Ibomite owes N24, 567 as State debt burden
By Shadrach Okon
Akwa Ibom State, an oil- rich State in Nigeria has been ranked as the 18th mosted indebted State in the country. A recent report published by Budgit, a reputable fiscal analysis organisation in Nigeria reveal this State’s debt profile and ranking among other States in the federation.
According to the report, Akwa Ibom State owes the sum of N122.19billion as domestic debt and a total of $35.56millon US dollars as foreign debt. The report covers ten years period –between 2015 and 2024.
The report indicates that each Akwa Ibomite owes N24,567 as State debt burden. The total debt per capita of the State was gotten by dividing the sum of both domestic and foreign debt of the State by the population of the State.
Based on BudgIT report, government used only 4 percent of the total revenue coming to the state to service debt. The report also shows that the debt of the State decreased from N228.80billion in 2023 to 176.78billion in 2024, marking a 22.7% reduction.
The report also shows that in the last 10 years, 88.25 percent of the total revenue of the State comes from Federation Allocation Account Committee (FAAC) which shows a heavy dependence on statutory allocation from federal government.
According to BudgIT report, Akwa Ibom State recorded the second highest allocation in 2024 after Delta State, with 141.33% growth in its allocation from N417. 20 billion in the previous year to N1.006trillion the following year. The spike in the allocation was due to the removal of fuel subsidy which led to more funds coming to the federating units from federal government.
