Multiple Lawsuits leave Lagos with legal exposure of N703 billion

Lagos, Africa’s largest mega-city of over 17 million people, may be a couple of bad legal judgements away from being on the hook for N703 billion due to multiple lawsuits filed against the State.
Data from a recent bond prospectus seen by MoneyCentral shows that as at December 2019, the total claim for damages and compensation against the Lagos State Government in the civil and commercial litigations were N703,643,582,907.30.
The State says that: “As advised by the Solicitors to the Issue, it is unlikely that the actions instituted against Lagos State will impact the Programme adversely. Furthermore, the success of any individual case would not materially impair Lagos State’s ability to meet its obligations under the Programme.”
While this may indeed be the case as Ratings agency Agusto & Co., has assigned an Aa- rating to the Lagos State Government, the states total potential liabilities now exceed the N1.3 trillion mark, when the huge debt burden is factored in.
Lagos State Government had an indebtedness of N683,537,825,055.69 as at October 31, 2019 which constitutes loan capital, debentures, mortgages, overdrafts, short term loans, charges or similar indebtedness.
Let’s hope for the sake of Lagos Bondholders and citizens groaning under poor infrastructure, that Rating agency Agusto is right about its assessment.