Imo State galloped to the first position in the reduction of its domestic debt between December 2024 and 2025.
While other states were piling on more domestic debt, Imo paid off N42.40 billion to emerge first among 22 states that cut their 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, slashing theirs by N37.3 billion and N31.3 billion, respectively.
Conversely, Lagos led 14 states and the Federal Capital Territory in raising their domestic debt portfolios, thus driving the overall increase recorded within the period.
Lagos added a whopping N319.2 billion to its domestic debt stock, followed by the FCT with N125.3 billion, and Kaduna with N58.8 billion.
In the South-East, only Enugu increased its domestic profile, as Abia, Anambra, and Ebonyi States followed in the footsteps of Imo in reducing their debts.
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, 2026, the 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).
The performance of Imo in reducing its domestic debt is coming just a few days after the state emerged as the one with the second-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 South-East states were among the 12, with Imo recording the lowest poverty rate in the zone, followed by Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Abia, which came last at 3.4%.
