External debt obligations gulped a total of N136.54bn from revenues generated by the federation in January 2026, according to Federation Account Allocation Committee documents analysed by The PUNCH.
The amount was deducted at source from the gross revenue for the month before distribution in February 2026, effectively reducing the net FAAC allocations available to the three tiers of government.
Findings showed that the January 2026 deduction represents an increase of N10.53bn or 8.35 per cent when compared with the N126.01bn deducted from January 2025 revenues. Further analysis of the data shows that the deduction accounted for about 6.12 per cent of the N2.23tn gross revenue recorded in January 2026.
This marks a clear increase from January 2025, when N126.01bn was deducted from a higher gross revenue of N2.64tn, representing about 4.77 per cent of total earnings. A detailed breakdown indicates that the Federal Government accounted for the largest share of the deductions, with N86.54bn removed from its January 2026 revenue.
This represents about 63.4 per cent of the total foreign debt servicing cost. Notably, the federal deduction remained unchanged year-on-year at N86.54bn, suggesting a fixed repayment profile for the period. The remaining N49.99bn was deducted for the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
