Did Tinubu Leave Over $1bn Foreign Debt Behind As Lagos Governor?

A spokesperson for the Atiku Abubakar presidential campaign, Daniel Bwala, has alleged that former Lagos State governor and presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, left behind a foreign debt of over $1bn when he completed his tenure in 2007. This claim is FALSE!

The Findings:

Information from the Debt Management Office (DMO) showed that the federal and state governments’ External Debt Stock as of June 30, 2016, was $11,261,887,684.00 with the Federal Government’s share of the debt portfolio standing at $7,607,500,252.76 while that of the states was $3,654,387,431.24. The three most indebted states were: Lagos with $1,431,474,719.70; Kaduna with $225,277,020.12 and Edo with $179,519,864.02. This was just the foreign debt profile.

This prompted the then Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, to explain that the foreign debt owed by the state government at the time, was inherited from previous administrations before his tenure which began in 2015.

Also, Data compiled by the DMO showing both federal and states’ external debt stock as of December 31, 2007, revealed that Lagos State owed a total of $243,283,449.01 which is approximate to the figure quoted by Bwala.

It should be noted that at this time, Tinubu had handed over to his successor, Babatunde Fashola (SAN). The debt was from multilateral sources alone.

Conclusion: 

Available records showed that Bwala’s claim that Tinubu left behind a foreign debt of over $1bn as Lagos State governor is false.