24/01/2020
Since we got in, our administration has not taken any loan whatsoever. We have been governing the state with what we have.
The rise in the domestic debt profile of the state to the tune of N2bn, as contained in the latest report of the Debt Management Office, was as a result of under-reporting of the debt profile of the state as at June 2019.
The rise of the debt profile from N61,335,531,821.69 in the second quarter to N63,177,349,538.89 in the third quarter — a difference of approximately N2bn — was because the N2bn Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund (MSMEDF) loan, which was long taken and spent by the last administration, was never declared to the Debt Management Office (DMO) until the third quarter of 2019. So the rise of the state’s debt profile was simply because of this new declaration of the MSMEDF loan taken by the last administration.
Though we have not taken any loan, we have indeed been servicing the loans inherited from the past administration, including the N2bn MSMEDF loan and the N17.569bn Budget Support Facility which repayments only started in July and September 2019 respectively. These loans are being deducted from source by the Federal Government.
