No fewer than 33 states in Nigeria have collectively repaid N1.85 trillion in domestic debts over an 18-month period, with Ogun, Lagos, Delta, Imo, and Cross River emerging as the top performers in debt settlement, a new report by the National Orientation Agency (NOA) has revealed.
According to the report, Delta State topped the list of states with the highest repayments, offsetting N265.83 billion of its N465.4 billion domestic debt, representing a significant reduction in its financial obligations.
Lagos State followed with a repayment of N96.23 billion, while Imo (N94.70 billion), Cross River (N85.91 billion), and Ogun (N81.35 billion) rounded off the top five.
“These five states demonstrated fiscal discipline and commitment to debt sustainability,” the NOA report said.
The report, which analyzed the domestic debt records of Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) between June 2023 and December 2024, described the scale of debt repayment as “unprecedented.”
The agency attributed the repayment drive to a spike in revenues shared from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC).
“In 2024, the 36 states and 774 local government areas received a total of N9.58 trillion from FAAC — a 55.5 percent increase from the N6.16 trillion distributed in 2023, and nearly double the N4.79 trillion shared in 2022,” the report stated.
The report credited the improved fiscal flows to higher oil earnings and enhanced tax collection efforts.
These gains, the NOA noted, strengthened liquidity at both federal and state levels, enabling governments to service debts more aggressively and reduce their reliance on new borrowings.
“This revenue windfall helped many states to embark on unprecedented debt repayments,” the agency noted.
Jigawa State was singled out for having the most significant percentage reduction in debt stock.
The state cut down 96 percent of its N43.13 billion debt, slashing N41.8 billion in just 18 months. Similarly, Ondo State reduced its debt by 82.6 percent, trimming it from N74 billion to N61.6 billion.
“Today, at least 33 states and the FCT have reduced their domestic debt portfolios at an unprecedented rate,” the NOA report said.
However, not all states aligned with the national trend of fiscal responsibility. The report flagged Rivers, Niger, and Enugu as outliers for increasing their debt burdens during the same period.
“Instead of following the footsteps of their colleagues, these states borrowed more,” the NOA said.
“Between June 2023 and December 2024, Niger State increased its debt burden by N18.79 billion, Enugu by N26.09 billion, and Rivers State by a staggering N138.89 billion.”
At the national level, Nigeria’s overall public debt — comprising both federal and state obligations — also saw a decline, falling from $113.42 billion in June 2023 to $94.22 billion in December 2024.
One of the federal government’s most notable achievements, according to the report, was the complete repayment of its $3.264 billion debt to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The debt, which stood at $3.264 billion in June 2023, was reduced to $800.23 million by the end of 2024 and fully cleared in the second quarter of 2025.
“In less than two years of President Bola Tinubu’s administration, Nigeria has paid off its $3.264 billion indebtedness to the IMF,” the agency confirmed.
This progress, the NOA said, was made possible by increased revenues, which also led to a dramatic improvement in Nigeria’s revenue-to-debt service ratio — from 97 percent in early 2023 to 65 percent by December 2024.
Despite the milestone, the federal government’s spending on domestic debt servicing rose significantly.
The NOA disclosed that the Tinubu administration expended N8.81 trillion on domestic debt servicing within its first 18 months — more than triple the N2.56 trillion spent in 2022 by the previous government.
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