Imo tops in reduction of domestic debt
Imo State has moved up the ladder to the first position with its reduction of domestic debt between December 2024 and 2025. While other states were piling on more domestic
Imo State has moved up the ladder to the first position with its reduction of domestic debt between December 2024 and 2025.
While other states were piling on more domestic debts, Imo paid off N42.40 billion to become the first of 22 states that cut its indebtedness.
According to data released by the Debt Management Office, whereas 22 states worked hard to reduce their debts, 14 others increased theirs.
While Imo recorded the largest reduction, Akwa Ibom and Bayelsa states followed by slashing theirs by N37.3 and N31.3 billion, respectively.
Conversely, Lagos led 14 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in raising their domestic debt portfolios, thus driving the overall increase recorded within the period.
Lagos added N319.2b to its domestic debt stock ,followed by FCT with N125.3b, and Kaduna with N58.8b.
In the southeast, only Enugu increased its domestic profile as Abia, Anambra, and Ebonyi states followed in the footsteps of Imo in the reduction of their debts.
READ ALSO: Meet 25-year-old Emmanuel Oyelami with 9 A1s in WAEC, First Class UI Law, First Class Law School
In percentage terms, Kaduna recorded the steepest increase, with its domestic debt rising by 228.53 percent, followed by the FCT (197.15 percent) and Yobe (92.60 percent).
On April 15, DMO said Nigeria’s public debt rose to N159 trillion in 2025.
The debt office said the total domestic debt was N84.84 trillion ($59.11 billion), while the total external debt was N74.42 trillion ($51.85 billion).
In addition to cutting its domestic debt, Imo State became the second subnational with the lowest poverty rate in the country in 2025.
Owing largely to the regular payment of salaries and pensions by the Hope Uzodimma administration, with the attendant liquidity and cash flow, the state’s economy has been able to withstand the shock of hardship and its resultant poverty.
In a nationwide survey on the performance of the 36 states and Abuja in the management of poverty, Imo recorded the second-lowest poverty rate in Nigeria.
The results of the survey, conducted by StatiSense, a globally recognised institution, showed that Imo came second with 0.3%, behind only Lagos State, which posted 0.2%.
Notably, the 12 states that posted the lowest poverty rates, between 0.2% and 3.5%, are all from the southern part of the country, with the exception of Abuja.
All five Southeast states were among the 12, with Imo recording the lowest poverty rate in the zone, followed by Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Abia, which brought up the rear at 3.4%.
