The administration of President Bola Tinubu may have to spend about N341.23 billon on settling judgment debts between 2023 and 2027.
The judgment debts were listed as promissory notes in a document titled, ‘Schedule of Promissory Notes Issued by Category as at September 30, 2022’ by the Debt Management Office.
A promissory note is said to be a debt instrument that contains a written promise by one party – the note’s issuer or maker – to pay another party – the note’s payee – a definite sum of money, either on demand or at a specified future date.
ACccording to Section 4 of the Government Promissory Notes Act, it states that government promissory notes are paid from the general revenue and assets of the federation.
“The principal sums and interest represented or secured by any government promissory notes are hereby charged upon and shall be payable out of the general revenue and assets of the federation,” the Act reads in part.
12 out of the 21 promissory notes related to judgment creditors would be settled during the four-year tenure of the current administration of President Tinubu.
While two are dominated in naira, the rest will be settled in dollars.
The two naira-dominated judgment debts would cost about N39.07 billon while the rest in dollar would cost $393.89 million – about N302.61 billion, using the exchange rate of the Central Bank of Nigeria of N768.27 per dollar-.
A $1.58m judgment debt would be the first to be settled by the new administration by August 11, 2023.
The rest will be settled between October 15, 2023, and February 15, 2027.
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