It is a known fact that numbers do not lie. But…do. Edo State has moved from 12th to 6th among Nigeria’s most indebted states. That is not progress. That is free fall in reverse.
Domestic debt rose from ₦113 billion in December 2024 to ₦172.37 billion by March 2026. That is ₦59.37 billion added in 15 months. Roughly ₦4 billion every month. ₦130 million every day.
The figures present a new test for Governor Okpebholo’s administration, particularly after his criticism of the previous government’s borrowing spree. He called it reckless. He called it mortgaging the future. The people clapped.
Now the borrowing has doubled in speed.
Debt is not evil. Debt builds roads, hospitals, schools. But debt without visible results is just a loan taken in your name to fund someone’s comfort.
Where are the projects? Where are the jobs? Where is the Edo that this debt was supposed to build?
When a governor climbs to power on the ladder of “anti-debt” speeches, then uses the same ladder to climb higher into debt, what do we call that?
The people of Edo are not ATM machines. We cannot keep swiping for governments that promise “Renewed Hope” thus, metamorphosed to “Edo is shining” but deliver renewed bills.
Every billion borrowed today is a tax our children will pay tomorrow. With interest. Leadership is not the art of borrowing. It is the art of results.
Until we see roads, water, and factories to match ₦172 billion, this jump from 12th to 6th is not development. It is a warning.
Catastrophe is debt without dignity. Affliction is criticism that becomes what it condemned and even….
Ruination is when “change” becomes worse, only faster.
+2348039289375
bcradle@ymail.com
