By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria’s public debt stock, which includes external and domestic debt, rose to N134.30 trillion ($91.35 billion) in Q2 2024 from N121.67 trillion ($91.46 billion) in Q1 2024, a new report from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) confirmed on Monday.
This indicated a growth rate of 10.38 per cent on a quarter-on-quarter basis.
Total external debt, which is borrowings from foreign lenders, stood at N63.07 trillion ($42.90 billion) in the period under review while total domestic debt, which is loans secured from local lenders, was N71.22 trillion ($48.45 billion).
The Nigerian Domestic & Foreign Debt Q2 2024, noted that the share of external debt (in Naira value) to total public debt was 46.96 per cent in Q2 2024, while the share of domestic debt (in naira value) to total public debt was 53.04 per cent.
A breakdown of state profiles showed that Nigeria’s commercial capital, Lagos state recorded the highest domestic debt in Q2 2024 with N885.99 billion.
This was followed by Rivers with N389.20 billion, while Jigawa state recorded the lowest with N1.82 billion, followed by Ondo with N15.10 billion.
In addition, Lagos state recorded the highest external debt over the reference period with $1.20 billion, followed by Kaduna with $640.99 million, while Yobe had the lowest with $20.49 million, followed by FCT with $20.85 million.
There are indications that Nigeria’s debt stock will continue to swell with the federal government planning to raise an extra $2.2 billion or N1.767 trillion via the international debt market via Eurobonds and Sukuk to fund its budget deficit.
Last week Thursday, the Senate approved the request two days after President Bola Tinubu transmitted the request to the parliament.
The House of Representatives is expected to give approval later this week.
Modupe Gbadeyanka 
Dipo Olowookere