By Ubong Sampson
The state government is set to secure another N18bn loan in addition to the already alarming debt of N242bn.
The debt profile of Akwa Ibom state is fast competing to become the highest in the country.
This is following the recent approval granted to the state governor, Udom Emmanuel by the House of Assembly to add a fresh debt of N18bn to the state’s current internal debt burden reported at N242.2bn as of June 2021 by the Debt Management Office.
The approval was granted through a resolution during plenary on Monday, shortly before the governor presented the 2022 budget estimates.
This would increase the debt burden to N267bn.
In the Debt Management Office’s ranking earlier in June, 2021, the state, with an internal debt burden of N242.2bn, was ranked highest in the Niger Delta and second highest in the country, debt-wise. Barely a month after (July), the government added a little more weight to the burden by securing additional N7bn loan in a split of N2bn and N5bn from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Family Home Fund Limited (FHF) respectively.
It has not been disclosed if the government has serviced any part of the debt since July, and the state’s finance commissioner, Linus Nkan neither responded to calls and sms to sent to his line (08023****01) by our correspondent seeking this information.
Only Rivers and Delta state are close to Akwa Ibom with N213.1bn and N205.9bn respectively, as of June 2021.
Meanwhile, the Akwa Ibom State Government has proposed to service 20.1% of the state’s current total debt from the 2022 budget.
Governor of the state, Udom Emmanuel made this known while presenting the 2022 budget estimates for the state to the legislature.
According to the proposed fiscal estimate of N582.115bn for the coming year, N50.2bn is to service the state’s debt which currently stands at N239.2bn, representing about 11.5% of the total estimate.
The 2022 estimate has a capital expenditure of N321.964 billion and a recurrent expenditure of N260.151 billion.
The budget christened “Budget of redefining standards”, is N16.86bn less than the revised approved estimate for year 2021 which is N598.975 billion.
The 2022 estimate is predicated on crude oil benchmark of 1.88 million barrels per day at US$57 per barrel at an exchange rate of N410.15.
To fund the 2022 budget, the State government is targeting a recurrent revenue of N273.854 billion. The remaining sum of N308.261 will be sourced from grants, loans and other sources.
Mr. Emmanuel said the state will expand its revenue base by improving collection on “maritime, coastal and inland and landed property.”
