The Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) between December 2018 and February 2020 has issued Promissory Notes worth N968.09 billion with N190.37 billion of the notes due to mature before the end of this year.

According to data released by the Debt Management Office yesterday, the category of the Promissory Notes includes oil marketing companies,  state governments, exporters and government agencies.

While N181.58 billion of the notes had matured in December last year, N3.84 billion is due to mature on May 24 and another two totalling N32.65 billion is due to mature on December 17, 2020. Also, N153.82 billion is set to mature on December 28, this year.

A total of N180.05 billion is due to mature next year while N292.711 billion will mature by the end of next year and N51.77 billion to mature in 2023. The rest of the notes will mature in 2024.

The data released by the DMO showed that under the creditory category, state governments accounted for N487.85 billion while government agencies accounted for N68.79 billion. Oil marketing companies also were issued N266.07 million. The rest were issued for exporters

The Federal Executive Council had approved the establishment of the Promissory Note Programme to settle inherited local debts and contractual obligations due to various categories of creditors, including oil marketers in July 2017.

Under the new payment policy to settle outstanding obligations, the Federal Government of Nigeria through the Debt Management Office, issued short term instruments “Promissory Notes” which guarantees payment of the face value of the note to the holder on a specified date.