An article by Chris Osa Nehikhare | Publisher, From My Window

Numbers have a peculiar habit. They do not shout. They do not campaign. They do not belong to the PDP or APC. They simply sit quietly on a page until someone decides to ask what they mean.

The latest domestic debt figures published by Nigeria’s Debt Management Office present Edo people with one such number.

As at December 31, 2025, Edo State’s domestic debt stood at approximately ₦91.18 billion.

Three months later, as at March 31, 2026, it stood at approximately ₦172.37 billion.

That is an increase of about ₦81.19 billion in three months.

Or, expressed differently, an increase of approximately 89 per cent in one quarter.

Edo’s domestic debt has therefore almost doubled between December and March.

That deserves an explanation.

Not an accusation. Not propaganda. An explanation.

The question becomes even more compelling because this is happening at a time when government revenues are supposedly enjoying something of a golden period.

The Edo State Internal Revenue Service has celebrated unprecedented improvements in internally generated revenue. It announced that the state crossed the ₦100 billion IGR mark in 2025.

At the same time, Federation Account revenues available to states have risen considerably compared with earlier years. Indeed, Edo’s own 2025 budget projected ₦409.66 billion in Federation Account receipts and ₦117.80 billion in internally generated revenue.

This produces what I call the Edo revenue paradox.

If FAAC has risen, and IGR has risen, why has domestic debt risen so dramatically as well?

Ordinarily, increased revenues should strengthen a government’s ability to finance expenditure from current income, reduce dependence on borrowing, service existing obligations and perhaps even gradually reduce its debt stock.

Borrowing itself is not a sin. Governments borrow everywhere.

The more intelligent question is: what was borrowed, for what purpose, on what terms and what asset was created with the money?

There is an additional wrinkle.

Edo State’s own 2026 Citizens Budget lists zero naira from loans as a source of financing for the year’s budget.

Yet the DMO figures before us show domestic debt moving from ₦91.18 billion to ₦172.37 billion between December and March.

How do we reconcile the two?

It is important to be fair. An ₦81.19 billion increase in debt stock does not necessarily mean that ₦81.19 billion was collected as fresh cash from banks during those three months. Some of the increase could conceivably arise from the recognition of previously existing obligations, restructuring of liabilities, contractor debts brought onto the books, or other accounting and debt-management adjustments.

But that is precisely why government should explain it.

What constitutes the additional ₦81.19 billion?

How much represents fresh borrowing?

How much represents previously unrecognised liabilities?

Who are the creditors?

What are the interest rates and maturities?

What projects or obligations are attached to the debt?

How much domestic debt was actually repaid during the same period?

And perhaps most importantly, what tangible assets have Edo people received—or will they receive—in exchange for this increased indebtedness?

These are not partisan questions. They are accounting questions.

Indeed, when revenues are rising, citizens are entitled to demand an even higher standard of fiscal transparency.

Government cannot celebrate rising FAAC and record IGR on one page and expect citizens not to notice rapidly rising debt on another.

Both numbers belong to the same balance sheet.

The DMO figures should therefore not become another opportunity for political shouting. Edo State Government should simply publish a reconciliation of the state’s domestic debt between December 31, 2025 and March 31, 2026.

Show us the ₦91.18 billion opening figure.

Show us the new obligations.

Show us repayments.

Show us any reclassification or recognition of old liabilities.

Show us what the borrowing financed.

Then show us how we arrived at ₦172.37 billion.

That is how accountable government should work.

Because the real issue is not whether Edo State has debt. Almost every government does.

The issue is whether today’s borrowing is creating tomorrow’s wealth—or merely leaving tomorrow’s citizens with today’s bills.

And until the ₦81.19 billion movement is properly explained, that remains Edo’s ₦81 billion question.