Akwa Ibom’s domestic debt dropped from ₦138.6 billion in December 2023 to ₦48.5 billion in September 2025, a 41.5% decline. External debt, by contrast, barely moved, edging down from about $100.9 million to $100 million over the period. This shows that the state’s adjustment was driven far more by reducing naira liabilities than by materially changing its foreign-currency exposure.
This pattern makes sense in the wider state-finance environment. Since the removal of subsidies and FX reforms, state revenues from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) have risen, with much of the increase coming from stronger federation transfers. At the same time, some states have also improved internally generated revenue (IGR). Akwa Ibom was also listed among the states that exceeded their IGR targets. Hence, the state likely had more room to repay or avoid rolling over domestic obligations than it did a few years earlier.
