INTERROGATING THE ALIA ADMINISTRATION’S DEBT SERVICING CLAIMS – By Terver Akase
I saw a press statement issued by the Managing Director of Benue Investment and Property Company Limited (BIPC), Dr. Raymond Asemakaha, regarding debt servicing and federal allocations, among other claims laden with several inconsistencies, rounding errors, and unsubstantiated postulations.
The claims presented by the BIPC MD could mislead readers about issues of indebtedness and debt servicing relative to revenue streams of the state such as FAAC allocations and what the Alia administration has been doing with the volume of resources at its disposal, owing to the fuel subsidy removal by the Tinubu administration.
From Asemakaha’s presentation, the Benue State domestic debt figure stands at “N122,500,000,000 Billion,” a phrasing that is internally contradictory, given that this same government had earlier bandied varying figures for the state debt profile.
The claim that the total foreign debt of Benue State is $26.4 million, equivalent to N39.6 billion, would bring the total debt stock to N162.1 billion.
The Alia administration’s assertion that the state spends N7.4 billion monthly on debt servicing implies that, in the last 29 months, the Benue State Government has spent N214.6 billion on debt servicing, an amount that is N52.5 billion higher than the N162.1 billion total that the government claims to be the combined domestic and foreign debts. The question is, how is the Alia administration spending on debt servicing far more than the actual debts it has declared?
If the Alia government claims that Benue State spends N7.4 billion monthly on debt servicing, why has the government not specified how much the state receives in federal allocations each month?
Asemakaha also claimed that in the first quarter of 2025, “Benue State’s debt service cost was N21.40 billion deducted from FAAC allocations as loan repayment.” The curious question is, if the government is spending N7.4 billion monthly to service debts, a three-month period (quarter) should amount to N22.2 billion, not N21.40 billion. Additionally, why did the BIPC MD not specify the amount of federal allocations the state received in the first quarter of 2025? On what basis does the government want the people to appraise its accountability in stewardship?
Another unsubstantiated statement in Dr. Asemakaha’s press release is the debt service ratio (DSR) of 413%. That ratio would imply debt service far exceeding the annual revenue of Benue State. The statement does not reveal the exact revenue base used, the year, or the income sources, making verification impossible. In other words, the Alia administration has left a yawning gap between inflows, particularly FAAC and IGR, and what the government is spending.
I challenge the Alia administration to publish a transparent debt profile of the state, including domestic and external debt amounts, instruments, currencies, interest rates, maturities, and creditors.
A reconciled debt-servicing schedule should be made public by the Benue State Government, detailing monthly and quarterly payments and the sources of funds (FAAC, IGR, grants, etc). The DSR calculation should be clearly defined, with the exact revenue base, annualized debt service, and the data sources used to arrive at the calculation.
It will be helpful if the government can also provide information regarding the refund on withdrawals for subsidy, the backlog of accumulated Stamp Duties and SURE-P funds which were being expected at the time Governor Alia took over in 2023.
Let’s have the above information and put the matter to rest.
