By Theophilus AdedokunÂ
The Federal Capital Territory is currently burdened with a domestic debt of over N84.7 billion despite realizing over N124 billion naira as internally generated revenue in 2022.
This huge amount is only owed to the creditor residing in Nigeria.
The city owes other debtors, including commercial banks, governments, and international financial institutions $23.37 million dollars.
In local currency, that is additional 24 billion using the estimated exchange rate of N1000 to a dollar.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the FCT generated a sum of N74. 5 billion and 92.05 billion in 2019 and 2020 respectively.
The revenue generated soared in 2021 to over N131.9 billion, and declined to N124 billion in 2022, though it was the third major contributor to Nigeria’s revenue.Â
However, Abujacommunity observed that FCT is also saddled with huge domestic and external debt.
This information seems shocking, yet this is backed up by reports collected from the Debt Management Office.Â
The data obtained showed that FCT incurred a debt of N108 billion in 2019 but reduced its domestic debt to N69.5 billion and 50.6 billion in 2020 and 2021 respectively.
In 2022, the city obtained a domestic debt of over 62.5 percent, shooting up its debt profile to N81 billion, and by June 2023 the debt has surged to N84.77 billion.
Its external debt was $30.45 million in 2019 increased to $30.9 million during the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic.
The debt, however, came down to $27.7 million, $24.3 million and $23.37 in 2021, 2022 and June 2023 respectively.
This means that the city was only able to settle a little above $ 7 million in four years.
