Nigeria's total debt portfolio may have hit an all-time high of N4.875 trillion ($32.5 billion), Ehigie Uzamere, chairman senate committee on local and foreign debts has said.

Mr Uzamere disclosed this at the opening of the public hearing on the Debt Management Office (DMO) re-enactment bill held yesterday in Abuja.

According to Mr Uzamere, this includes local debt and foreign debts the Nigerian government is obligated to.

"Presently, our external debt stands at $4.5 billion; Domestic debt is valued at over $28 billion and is rising. National and sub-national governments are going to the capital market to borrow for development projects and finance budget deficits," Mr Uzamere said.

He however said the total debt portfolio as calculated excludes and other securities the government, including states and local governments acquired over the past three years.

"There's no statistics on other implied debts from Public Private Partnership (PPP), government guarantees and bail out to banks, textile firms, etc. not to mention the arrears of contractual obligations by government. The list is endless," he noted.

The senate president, David mark, also condemned the rampant, public private partnerships and internal and external borrowing by all levels of government.

"One of the sources of public debt is public private partnership," the senate president said. "They look attractive on the surface but if faced with challenges it becomes a debt on government.

While we need the private sector to fast track infrastructural development, government must be ready to carefully scrutinise terms and conditions of every partnership to avoid pitfalls which can impact negatively on the economy and Nigerians."

According Mr Uzamere, the speedily growing debt profile is due to a lack of central regulation of government borrowing in Nigeria, hence the bill.

When the bill is passed into law, it will require DMO to issue guidelines on both external and domestic borrowing, federal government guarantees and on-lending to sub nationals subject to the approval of Federal Executive Council.

The office will also be required to develop a debt market for the state governments to allow them have direct access to borrowing through issuance of state bonds.

The bill is expected to plug the loopholes on borrowing exploited by states and local governments by making it mandatory for those governments to obtain finance minister's consent before they get loans.

"The National Assembly will not condone frivolous borrowings or misapplication of funds meant for development projects," the senate president warned.

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