The Lagos State Government owes 33.86 per
cent of the country’s total sub-national external debts (debts owed by
state governments), investigation has shown.
Statistics obtained from the website of
the Debt Management Office in Abuja on Wednesday showed that out of the
total external debt of $3.01bn, Lagos State owed $1.02bn, leaving the
remaining 35 states and the Federal Capital Territory with $1.99bn as of
June 30, 2014.
Further analysis shows that out of
Lagos’s $1.02bn external loan commitments, $937.91m was from
multilateral bodies, while $82.5m represented loans contracted from
bilateral sources.
With a series of loan deals, the World
Bank in particular has been involved in the urban renewal programme of
Lagos State as well as efforts to reform the policy environment.