Lagos, Delta, Osun and Akwa Ibom states topped the list of highly indebted states with N1.262 trillion of the entire N3.342 trillion owed by the 36 states of the federation, the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, NEITI, said Tuesday.

The debt burden of the 36 states, according to NEITI, rose to over N3.342 trillion at the end of 2016.

According to NEITI, the breakdown shows that Lagos was indebted to the tune of N603.25 billion; Delta, N331.95 billion; Osun, N165.91 billion; and Akwa Ibom, N161.23 billion.

The burden of the four states, NEITI said, represents about 38 per cent of the entire debt burden of the r6 states.

According to the agency, the data was contained in the third edition of the NEITI Quarterly Review, a publication of the agency which focused on Federal Accounts Allocation Committee disbursements in 2016.

The publication contained facts and data from the National Bureau of Statistics, Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, FAAC and the Management Office.

According to NEITI, the publication was consistent with its mandate of monitoring of fiscal allocation and statutory disbursement of revenues due to the three tiers of government.

“NEITI’s legitimate interest in the debt profile, revenue generation and management in Nigeria is as a result of the fact that over 70 per cent of the revenues involved are derived from the extractive industry,” the
agency said.

The data shows that the states with high debt burden are Benue, indebted to the tune of N49.15 billion; Edo, with a burden of N94.54 billion; Enugu with a burden of N57.56 billion; Ekiti, N67.3 billion; and Kano, with
N81.05 billion debt burden.

Similarly, the publication stated that Katsina was indebted to the tune of N30.03 billion; while Ogun owed N103.75 billion by the end of last year.