Foreign trips, debt service gulp N494bn in 20 states

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No fewer than 20 states spent a total of N494bn on public debt services and foreign trip engagements within the first nine months of 2025.

This is according to the states’ budget implementation reports for the third quarter of 2025 obtained from their respective websites and Open Nigerian States, a platform supported by BudgIT that serves as a repository for public budget data.

The states include Lagos, Oyo, Osun, Taraba, Ebonyi, Katsina, Kaduna, Ondo, Ekiti, Adamawa, Yobe, Kogi, Kwara, Jigawa, Borno, Nasarawa, Bayelsa, Edo, Imo and Abia.

The third-quarter budget performance reports for 16 other states and the Federal Capital Territory could not be obtained as of press time.

A large chunk of the spent funds, approximately N446bn, went into servicing and repayment of state loans, while the rest, N48bn, catered for international trips.

Recall that 12 of the states, which missed their revenue targets for the first quarter of 2025, had spent a sum of N117bn on public debt charges over the same period.

Lagos led the pack, having spent N26.8bn on both foreign and domestic debt in the first quarter, despite missing its N728.9bn revenue target for the period.

However, a review of the state’s third-quarter report showed that its public debt charges had increased to N87bn, which is 91.58 per cent of the N95bn it budgeted for the same purpose for the year.

The state also spent N16.48bn on foreign travel within the nine-month period.

Kaduna and Kogi states followed closely on the chart, spending N48.66bn and N31.5bn on their public debt charges, respectively.

Both states, however, spent N3.66bn and N1.3bn on international trips during the period under review.

Other top spenders on debt charges include Oyo State, which spent N25.85bn; Adamawa, which spent N24bn; and Bayelsa, which spent N36bn.

The three states, however, spent N597m, N426m and N1.1bn on foreign trips over the same period.

Other states’ public debt expenditure includes Osun (N17.75bn), Ebonyi (N11.9bn), Taraba (N23.68bn), Katsina (N12.4bn), Ondo (N15.9bn) and Ekiti (N16.67bn).

Those of other states include N10.85bn for Yobe, N10bn for Kwara, N1.9bn for Jigawa, N7.47bn for Borno, N5.4bn for Nasarawa and N30.7bn for Edo State.

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