Nigeria’s public debt stock increased from N87.91 trillion (114.35 billion dollars) in the third quarter of 2023 to N97.34 trillion (108.23 billion dollars) in the fourth quarter of the same year, according to the most recent figures from the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics.

The nation’s public debt stock, which includes both external and domestic debt, increased by 10.73 percent on a quarterly basis, according to the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in its Nigerian Domestic and Foreign Debt Report for Q4 2023, which was made public on Tuesday in Abuja.

It noted that the nation’s domestic debt was N59.12 trillion (65.73 billion dollars) and that the country’s external debt was N38.22 trillion (42.50 billion dollars) as of Q4 2023.

However, domestic debt was recorded at 60.74 percent in Q42023, while the percentage of external debt to total governmental debt was 39.26 percent, according to the study.
According to the bureau’s breakdown by state, Lagos State had the greatest internal debt in Q42023, coming in at N1.05 trillion, followed by Delta with N373.41 billion.

At N42.76 billion, Jigawa has the lowest internal debt, followed by Kebbi at N60.69 billion.

Conversely, at 1.24 billion dollars, Lagos State has the largest external debt, followed by 587.07 million dollars for Kaduna State.

According to the NBS, “Yobe recorded the highest external debt at 21.49 million dollars, followed by Borno with 20.49 million dollars.”