Nigerian states and federal debt stock as of December 31, 2020 stood at N32.92 trillion, the National Bureau of Statistics has said.

The bureau, in its Nigerian domestic and foreign debt Q4 2020 report released Monday, said Nigeria’s total public debt portfolio showed that N12.71 trillion or 38.60 per cent of the debt was external while N20.21 trillion or 61.40 per cent of the debt was domestic.

The NBS gave further disaggregation of Nigeria’s foreign debt to include $17.93 billion of the debt as multilateral; $4.06 billion as bilateral from the AFD, Exim Bank of China, JICA, India, and KFW while $11.17 billion was commercial which are Eurobonds and Diaspora Bonds and $186.70 million as promissory notes.

Details of the debt figures show that the domestic debt figures of the 36 states of the federation and the FCT were put at N4.19 trillion with Lagos accounting the highest.

The report said the total states and FCT domestic debt was put at N4.19 trillion with Lagos State accounting for 12.15 per cent of the debt stock while Jigawa State has the least debt stock in this category with a contribution of 0.74 per cent, it said.

Tower of David Museum said Monday, A box of artifacts was rediscovered during a major conservation project to restore the stones of the “Phasael” tower of the Jerusalem citadel’s $40 million renewal project.

Additionally, the team discovered a box of artifacts, originally excavated in the 1980s. Within it, they uncovered a rare silver coin from the Second Temple period  — a “Tyre shekel.”

Two images are imprinted on either side of the coin: On one face is Melqart, the chief god of the Phoenician city of Tyre, and on the other, an eagle.

The coins were struck at some point between 125 BCE and the outbreak of the Great Revolt in 66 CE, when they were used to pay a half-shekel tax. Talmudic sources suggest that the Tyrian shekel was likely the only means of paying the head tax at the Temple for its upkeep.

Although well-known in ancient and biblical sources, these coins are rare — only a few have been found. The coin will be displayed as part of the museum’s new permanent exhibition next year.

During the planning stages of the project, conservationists discovered a large, structural crack running from the top to the bottom of the tower, which soon became the project’s central focus, according to the museum.

As part of the team’s renewal project, conservationists cleaned and treated the stones of the tower — dating back more than 2,000 years — with temporary glue to maintain stability.

A pipe system was then threaded within the tower, and liquid lime-based mortar injected into the cracks. This process helps the team ascertain how large the cracks are, by examining how far up the mortar rises.

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire says France and the European Union are close to a deal on a bailout for Air France, which like other carriers has been hammered by the coronavirus pandemic.

On Friday, French newspaper said the French government and the European Union’s executive were close to an agreement on the terms of a bailout for Air France.

The expected deal would see Air France give up fewer airport flight slots at its Paris base than initially sought by the European Commission, notably at Orly airport.

The Air France-KLM group recorded a 7.1 billion euro net loss for last year.

It received 10.4 billion euros in loans and guarantees from France and the Netherlands and has been negotiating a state-backed recapitalisation, with EU regulators seeking airport slot concessions at Paris-Orly and Amsterdam-Schiphol.

Amid a global race to beat the COVID-19 pandemic, the Nigerian government is placing priority on funding a wasteful petrol subsidy scheme worth about $ 315 million monthly, an amount capable of vaccinating at least half of its adult population (53m people).

After a year of dilly-dallying on the removal of petrol subsidy, it is now official that the burden that has shortchanged Nigerians the most is real and active as the state oil firm has confirmed spending up to $315 million (N120bn/ exchange rate N380) a month on fuel subsidies.

The expenditure on subsidy for PMS also dwarfs the government’s proposed 2021 spending of N45.19 billion allocated for immunisation against measles, whooping cough, and tetanus to the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children, despite a UNICEF report showing 4.3 million children in Nigeria still miss out on regular vaccinations every year.

In a period Nigeria has one of the world’s highest numbers of out-of-school children, 13.2 million, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the amount spent on subsidy in one month is also larger than the entire 2021 budget of N94.4 billion meant for the provision of Universal Basic Education (UBEC).