Ndubuisi Ugah 
The Enugu State Government under the leadership of Dr Peter Mbah has reduced its debt by $39.8 million, the highest by new state governors between June 2023 and June 2024.
Statisense made this disclosure in a post shared on its verified X handle at the weekend, citing data published by the Debt Management Office (DMO).
The report reads, “2023 New Governors and Their External Debt Status in One Year,” revealed that Governor Mbah reduced the state’s external debt by $39.8 million, followed by Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom State, who reduced the state’s external debt by $6.24 million.
Other states with new governors that had a reduction in their external debt in the period under review – June 2023 to June 2024 – were Benue ($2.82 million), Delta ($1.40 million), Jigawa ($1.14 million), and Zamfara ($874,000)
However, 12 states recorded a rise in their external debt stocks under their new leaders, the data company and AI platform said.
Rivers’ external debt grew by $119.9 million, while those of Kaduna, Katsina, and Cross Rivers grew by $71.6 million, $62.3 million, and $57.8 million, respectively.
Ebonyi State’s external debt grew by $35.3 million, while that of Kano State grew by $22.1 million and Kebbi State recorded $16.4 million rise in external debt, according to the internal data company.
Others listed were Sokoto ($16.1 million), Taraba: ($9.54 million), Niger: ($8.87 million), Abia ($4.96 million), and Plateau ($2.35 million).
