Abuja — The federal government has expressed fears over the current position of the country's external debt stock which according to its estimate has risen to $3.76bn US dollars.

The special adviser to the president on parastatals, statutory bodies and inter-governmental affairs, Mr. Braeyi Ekiye, disclosed this Friday in Abuja when he paid a familiarisation visit to the Debt Management Office.

While commending the management of the Debt Management Office for consolidating on the sustainability of the nation's debt profile following its successful exit from the Paris and London clubs of creditors in 2005, Mr. Ekiye said the DMO is a critical agency in the realisation of the president's seven-point agenda.

The special adviser added that the current position of the nation's external debt stock, if not checked appropriately, might relapse into another debilitating debt overhang that the nation experienced a few years back.

The director-general of the Debt Management Office, Dr. Abraham Nwankwo, while thanking the special adviser for the visit, stressed that the vision of the DMO was to manage Nigeria's debt as an asset for growth, development and poverty reduction.

He said the DMO in conjunction with the Federal Ministry of Finance had developed borrowing guidelines aimed at providing the framework for effective, prudent and healthy management of public debts to achieve the overall objectives of government's macro-economic policy.

Dr. Nwankwo allayed fears on the current state of the nation's external debt stock, pointing out that it is still within manageable and health levels as much of the debt stock were borrowed from multilateral organisations which are in the concessional windows of some international financial institutions.

He said DMO had developed a template for the establishment of debt management departments in all the states of the federation, adding that to ensure effective public debt management at the state level, developmental efforts at that level must grow in tandem with the federal level.

"Procurement of debts, especially from the domestic market, was not bad; what is critical is the application of such funds which should be put into the real sectors like agriculture, education, power, infrastructure, health, etc to grow the economy," he said.