Photo Credit: The Punch
2025-12-27 06:00:00
Figures cited by Punch indicate an analysis of budget reports found 20 Nigerian states spent about ₦494bn on debt service and foreign travel within the first nine months of 2025.
The report highlights how debt repayments can crowd out social and capital spending, while travel costs often become a lightning rod in public debates about austerity and value-for-money.
Fiscal reform advocates argue that clearer procurement rules, public dashboards, and quarterly disclosures can help citizens track what travel delivers—training, investment, diplomacy—or whether it is simply overhead.
Echotitbits take:
The key question is opportunity cost: what didn’t get funded because debt service and travel consumed scarce resources? Watch for state-level transparency reforms, and whether assemblies demand sharper reporting on outcomes tied to trips.
Source: The Punch — December 27, 2025 (https://punchng.com/foreign-trips-debt-service-gulp-n494bn-in-20-states/)
The Punch December 27, 2025
