Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
A new report released by Economic Confidential has revealed that Lagos State generates more Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) than 30 of the 36 states in the federation combined.
The report by this economic intelligence magazine indicates that the IGR of Lagos State of N333 billion is higher than that of 30 States put together whose IGR are extremely low and poor compared to their allocations from the Federation Account.
The states with impressive over 30 percent IGR apart from Lagos are Ogun, Rivers, Edo, Kwara, Enugu and Kano States who generated N607 billion in total, while the remaining states merely generated a total of N327 billion in 2017.
In its Annual States Viability Index (ASVI), the reputable journal also said only 17 states are insolvent as their IGRs in 2017 were far below 10 percent of their receipts from the Federation Account Allocations (FAA) in the same year.
The index, carefully and painstakingly computed, proved that without the monthly disbursement from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), many states remain unviable, and cannot survive without the federally collected revenue, mostly from the oil sector.
The IGR are generated by states through Pay-As-You-Earn Tax (PAYE), Direct Assessment, Road Taxes and revenues from Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
Recently, the magazine published the total allocations received by each state in Nigeria from FAA from January to December 2017.
The latest report on IGR revealed that only Lagos and Ogun States generated more revenue than their allocations from the Federation Account by 165 percent and 107 percent respectively and no any other state has up to 100 percent of IGR to the federal largesse.
The IGR of the 36 states of the federation totalled N931 billion in 2017 as compared to N801.95 billion in 2016, an increase of N130 billion.
While the report provides shocking discoveries, the states with less than 10 percent IGR have jumped to 17 from 14 states in the previous year 2016.
The poor states may not stay afloat outside FAA due to socio-political crises including insurgency, militancy, armed-banditry and herdsmen attacks. Other states lack foresight in revenue generation drive coupled with arm-chair governance.
The states that may not survive without the Federation Account due to poor internal revenue generation are Bauchi which realized a meagre N4.3 billion compared with a total of N85 billion it received from FAA in 2017 representing about 5 percent; Yobe with IGR of N3.59 billion compared with FAA of N67 billion representing 5.33 percent; Borno N4.9 billion compared with FAA of N92 billion representing 5.41 percent; Kebbi with IGR of N4.39 billion compared with N76 billion of FAA representing 5.77 percent and Katsina with IGR of N6bn compared to N103 billion of FAA representing 5.8 percent within the period under review.
Other poor internal revenue earners are Niger which generated N6.5 billion compared to FAA of N87 billion representing 7.43 percent; Jigawa N6.6 billion compared to FAA of N85 billion representing 7.75 percent; Imo N6.8 billion compared with FAA of N85 billion representing 8.1 percent and Akwa Ibom N15 billion compared with FAA of N197 billion representing 8.06 percent, Ekiti N4.9 billion compared with FAA of N59 billion representing 8.38 percent; Osun N6.4 billion compared with FAA of N76 billion representing 8.45 percent, Adamawa N6.2 billion compared with FAA of N72.9 billion representing 8.49 percent, Taraba N5.7 billion compared with FAA of N66 billion representing 8.70 percent and Ebonyi N5.1 billion compared with FAA of N57.8 billion representing 8 percent.
Meanwhile, Lagos State remained steadfast in its number one position in IGR with a total revenue generation of N333 billion compared with FAA of N201 billion which translates to 165 percent in the 12 months of 2017.
It was followed by Ogun State which generated IGR of N74.83 billion compared with FAA of N69 billion representing 107 percent.
Others with impressive IGR include Rivers with N89 billion compared with FAA of N178 billion representing 50 percent; Edo with IGR of N25 billion compared with FAA of N75 billion representing 33 percent. Kwara State however with a low receipt from the Federation Account has greatly improved in its IGR of N19 billion compared with FAA of N61 billion representing 32 percent while Enugu with IGR of N22 billion compared with FAA of N69 billion representing 32 percent.
Kano generated N42 billion compared with FAA of N143 billion representing 30 percent while Delta State earned N51 billion IGR against FAA of N175 billion representing 29 percent.
The Economic Confidential ASVI further showed that only three states in the entire Northern region have IGR above 20 percent. They are Kwara, Kano, and Kaduna States.
Meanwhile, 10 states in the South recorded over 20 percent IGR in 2017. They are Lagos, Ogun, Rivers, Edo, Enugu, Delta, Cross River, Anambra, Oyo and Abia States.
The states with the poorest IGR of less than 10 percent in the South are Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Osun, Ekiti, Akwa-Ibom and Imo States while in the North; Gombe, Zamfara, Taraba, Adamawa, Jigawa, Niger, Katsina, Kebbi, Borno, Yobe and Bauchi States.
Meanwhile, the IGR of the respective states can improve through aggressive diversification of the economy to productive sectors rather than relying on the monthly Federation Account revenues that largely come from the oil sector.
