– Samuel Ayara
Punch Newspaper of December 31, 2025, reported that ten Nigerian States were planning to source about 4.28 trillion Naira from loans, bonds, grants, capital receipts and public private partnerships to finance capital expenditures in their 2026 budgets.
The states, according to the paper, include Lagos, Abia, Ogun, Enugu, Osun, Delta, Sokoto, Edo, Bayelsa and Gombe, which jointly have a total budget size of 14.17 trillion Naira. What is needed to balance their proposed budget is over 30 percent.
An analysis of these budgets by The PUNCH shows that Nigeria’s growing reliance on borrowing is not mainly because the country lacks revenue but because of alleged poor resource management.
Economists argue that budgets, which should strictly guide government spending, are often ignored, while weak oversight and revenue leakages force governments to rely on loans.
Although borrowing can help fund development when used carefully, frequent and unchecked borrowing risks creating long-term debt problems and passing today’s failures onto future generations.
Amid the doom and gloom of this talk of fiscal indiscipline that have for decades plagued Africa, is Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria, where 30 months of Governor Umo Eno’s intentional, prudent and result-oriented leadership is re-inventing the wheel.
Until his arrival in May 29, 2023, not much was thought possible when the discourse was about expanding development without breaking the bank.
The contrast of executing ambitious projects without taking baits that would have swelled purses of commercial banks is a life hack other governments and organizations should learn from Governor Eno, who has not taken any such loans that would have increased the state’s debt profile.
One would have excused the government if it had resorted to loans for its ambitious development projects.
Imagine the pace of delivery on the magical ARISE Palm Resort, 5000 Capacity Convention Centre, the Oron Maritime Infrastructure, over 1000km of roads, Ibom International Hospital, 200 bed Ibom Hotel, Ibom Model Farm, Aviation ecosystem, housing projects, Model Primary Health Centres, Model Primary Schools, ARISE Shopping City and other numerous completed and ongoing projects.
A studied reflection on how much the state would have been owing with a leader whose financial appetite is random and voracious, would paint a picture that better tells the story.
For unadventurous minds, it must have passed as bland boast each time the Governor proclaimed how the state under him has run without obtaining any loan, some could have probably been waiting for when he eventually would need one. While their wait lasted, Governor Eno, in the dusk of year 2025 pulled another big joker; paid off all inherited commercial banks loans amounting to N39.8 billion naira, to present the state spotless before financial pundits.
Choosing to commit that much to keeping Akwa Ibom debt free, when the state adjudged solvent could have further deepened its loan bag, speaks volume to Governor Eno’s financial management prowess; a statesman who is conscious of building a prosperous future for generation next than plunder for immediate comfort.
All of what hitherto went into debt servicing can now form part of active funds for the development of the State. This explain why the state is daring a lot more in its strides to ensure none of the 31 LGAs is without a life-touching project, especially those harvested from needs documents of last year’s Town Square Meetings.
It is the current state of the state’s finances that informs the Governor’s repeated appreciation of President Bola Tinubu’s plausible economic reforms that have freed up more funds for Nigerian sub-nationals.
Noteworthy is the fact that beyond clearing the state’s outstanding financial liabilities to commercial banks, Governor Eno has already paid over N76 billion Naira, of the N120 billion owed retirees in pensions and gratuities, as well as made good its welfare responsibilities to the teaming workforce.
A true genius that understands the times, Governor Eno is never short on resourceful options and workable alternatives. Instead of looking outwards, the administration in 2026 has invented a vista that could optimize its financial fortunes – the Treasury Single Account.
When you have a leader emphasize a matter in the manner the Governor does with the TSA and AkwaGIS programmes, then you just cannot ignore the mindfulness of its destination.
The ambition of seeking to fund a N1.58 trillion Naira budget, without the option of borrowing should be a decision that comes with more questions. Chief of such being how a highly solvent subnational is able to explore homemade remedies to solve its financial concerns. Make no mistake, the TSA and AkwaGIS are Governor Eno’s bespoke non-oil revenue options.
Sparing future generation the burden of being handed a debt-laden society that could have been avoided, the government in scaling inclusion is admitting the citizens as development partners, by first giving them the confidence that their resources could be better managed. This commitment to fiscal transparency and accountability is the guarantee citizens require to keep their part of the civic bargain.
The greatness of every society directly depends on how well the government plough’s back resources into enhancing livelihood and expanding development. A government that is resolute at deploying difficult options of looking away from mortgaging the future through loans, must commit to such accountability that leaves its financial books in the open.
As Akwa Ibom State strategically exits the strangulating hold of financial institutions, through Governor Umo Eno’s rare and ingenious financial management prowess, it is worth observing that this is one decision that would in future set the administration aside as one that built a future from the present, instead of the obtuse culture of building the present from the future.
Samuel Ayara writes from Ibong Otoro in Abak LGA.
