The nation’s Debt Management Office (DMO) says Lagos, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and Rivers State accounted for more than 43% of the burgeoning N4.52 trillion domestic debt by Nigeria’s 36 states and the FCT as of March 31, 2026.
This is even as these states and the FCT enjoy substantial revenue from the nation”s coffers.
For instance, Lagos overtook oil states as top FAAC earner with N365.78 billion for first six months of this year.
An analysis of the gross revenue disbursement by Federation Account Disbursement Committee in H1 2026 shows that the top 10 states including the Centre of Excellence and Rivers received a combined net FAAC disbursement of N2.16 trillion, compared with N1.74 trillion in the same period of 2025, representing a year-on-year increase of 23.97% or N416.83 billion.
Rivers ranked third place, after Delta, receiving N295.99 billion in H1 2026, compared with N264.90 billion in H1 2025.
FCT continues to enjoy special privileges from the Federal Government with robust approved budget as well as special allocations.
However, DMO said in the first-quarter 2026 domestic debt data showed that the three states had a domestic debt of N1.96 trillion, representing 43.27% of the total N4.52 trillion debt stock in Q1 2026.
According to the DMO, Lagos had the highest domestic debt stock at N1.21 trillion, representing about 26.6% of the combined total.
The FCT followed with N389.88 billion, while Rivers State had N362.43 billion.
Delta State recorded N213.85 billion, followed by Ogun State with N200.75 billion.
At the lower end, Jigawa had the smallest domestic debt stock at N1.60 billion, followed by Ondo at N7.31 billion and Anambra at N9.62 billion.
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The figures highlight the concentration of domestic debt among a relatively small number of states, with the five largest debtors accounting for a substantial share of the combined stock.
Several states recorded debt stocks below N20 billion. These included Ebonyi at N12.30 billion, Katsina at N12.69 billion and Kebbi at N14.58 billion.
The DMO’s state-level domestic debt data provides a breakdown of the outstanding domestic obligations of Nigeria’s 36 states and the FCT.
Specifically, he combined domestic debt stock of the states and FCT increased by N163.25 billion, or about 3.7%, between December 2025 and March 2026.
The increase was driven by changes across individual states, with the FCT recording the largest rise during the period. Its debt stock increased from N188.86 billion in December 2025 to N389.88 billion in March 2026.
Edo also recorded a significant increase, with its debt stock rising from N91.18 billion to N172.37 billion. Borno increased from N42.64 billion to N88.44 billion, while Yobe rose from N81.00 billion to N98.59 billion.
However, some of the largest debtors recorded declines. Lagos’ debt stock fell from N1.22 trillion in December to N1.21 trillion in March, while Rivers declined from N378.81 billion to N362.43 billion.
Delta’s debt stock fell from N248.83 billion to N213.85 billion, while Ogun declined from N227.47 billion to N200.75 billion.
The DMO’s Q4 2025 data showed that the 36 states and the FCT had a combined domestic debt stock of N4.36 trillion.
The data shows that Lagos was the largest debtor at N1.22 trillion, followed by Rivers at N378.81 billion and Delta at N248.83 billion.
Ogun had N227.47 billion, while the FCT recorded N188.86 billion. Jigawa had the lowest debt stock at N1.60 billion.