State says domestic debt stood at ₦85.51 billion at end-2025, while proposed and undrawn financing should not be counted as existing liabilities
By Sani Sulaiman, Jalingo
Taraba State’s government has rejected claims that it currently carries a debt burden of about ₦1.2 trillion, saying official data from Nigeria’s Debt Management Office (DMO) showed its domestic debt stock stood at about ₦85.51 billion at the end of 2025.
State Commissioner for Finance, Budget and Planning Sarah Enoch Adi made the clarification at a press conference in Jalingo on Saturday, saying public discussions of the state’s finances should distinguish between existing debt, approved credit facilities, outstanding balances and proposed financing that has yet to be disbursed.
Adi said Taraba’s domestic debt was about ₦87.96 billion before the administration of Governor Agbu Kefas took office, noting that the DMO had clarified that its March 2023 figure reflected the position as of Sept. 30, 2022.
“According to the latest publicly available DMO data, as at 31 December 2025, Taraba State’s domestic debt stock stood at approximately ₦85.51 billion,” she said.
The figure was about ₦2.45 billion below the earlier reported domestic debt stock, she added, saying DMO records did not support claims that the state’s recognised domestic debt had risen to anything close to ₦1.2 trillion.
Taraba’s external debt stood at about $46.47 million as of Dec. 31, 2022, compared with $48.04 million three years later, Adi said.
She said the government remained mindful of foreign-exchange risks and would ensure external borrowing stayed within its repayment capacity and broader fiscal sustainability.
The commissioner said the state legislature approved financing facilities totalling about ₦206.78 billion in 2023 from Zenith Bank, United Bank for Africa, Fidelity Bank and Keystone Bank, backed by allocations and revenues including FAAC, JAAC, VAT and internally generated revenue.
But she said the approved facility value should not be treated as the state’s outstanding debt because repayments and restructuring had taken place.
“It would be misleading to take the original approved amount and add it in full to the latest DMO debt stock without establishing amounts drawn, repaid, and current balances,” Adi said.
The commissioner also rejected claims that Taraba had received ₦350 billion under a proposed bond programme. She said the programme remained subject to regulatory, statutory, market and disclosure requirements and would be raised in stages, with an initial tranche of about ₦35 billion under consideration.
“It is therefore incorrect to treat the entire ₦350 billion as money already received or as an existing liability,” she said.
Taraba also signed three financing agreements worth about $268 million with the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) on June 26 to fund the first phase of an integrated industrial park, irrigated rice production and processing, and a 50-megawatt solar power project.
Adi said the agreements did not mean the funds had already been disbursed, as the facilities remained subject to conditions and approvals before drawdown.
She urged the public to distinguish between recognised debt, approved but undrawn facilities, outstanding balances after repayments and proposed financing that had not yet translated into funds received.
“Adding the headline values of all these categories and describing the result as Taraba State’s current debt would not present an accurate picture,” she said.
Adi said the Kefas administration would focus on borrowing for productive infrastructure and public welfare, maintaining repayment capacity and meeting transparency and disclosure requirements.
She said public scrutiny should focus on how much was approved, how much was drawn, what had been repaid, what remained outstanding, what had not been disbursed, the projects being financed and the state’s capacity to repay.
The government, she said, remained committed to responsible financing, debt management and prudent use of public resources.