Economic Confidential has released its Annual States Viability Index (ASVI) statistics which show that 17 states are insolvent as their internally generated revenues (IGR) in 2017 were far below 10% of their receipts from the Federation Account Allocations (FAA) in the same period.
The index shows 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 is generated by states through pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) tax, direct assessment, road taxes and revenues from ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).
The report further indicates that Lagos State’s N333 billion IGR is higher than that of 30 states put together.
The states with impressive over 30% IGR apart from Lagos are Ogun, Rivers, Edo, Kwara, Enugu and Kano states which generated N607 billion in total, while the remaining states merely generated a total of N327 billion in 2017.
It would be recalled that Economic Confidential had recently published the total allocations received by each state in Nigeria from the FAA between January and December 2017.
The latest report on IGR reveals that only Lagos and Ogun States generated more revenue than their allocations from the Federation Account by 165 per cent and 107 per cent respectively and no any other state has up to 100 per cent 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.
The report also disclosed that states with less than 10% IGR have jumped to 17 from 14 states in the previous year 2016.
The poor states may not stay afloat outside the federation account allocation due to socio-political crises including insurgency, militancy, armed banditry and herdsmen attacks.
The states that may not survive without the federation account due to poor internal revenue generation are Bauchi which realised a meagre N4.3 billion compared to a total of N85 billion it received from the FAA in 2017 representing about 5%; Yobe with IGR of N3.59 billion compared to FAA of N67 billion representing 5.33%; Borno, N4.9 billion compared to FAA of N92 billion representing 5.41%; Kebbi with IGR of N4.39 billion compared to N76 billion of FAA representing 5.77% and Katsina with IGR of N6 billion compared to N103 billion of FAA representing 5.8% within the period under review.
Other poor internally revenue earners are Niger which generated N6.5 billion compared to FAA of N87 billion representing 7.43%; Jigawa with N6.6 billion compared to FAA of N85 billion representing 7.75%; Imo with N6.8 billion compared to FAA of N85 billion representing 8.1%; Akwa Ibom with N15 billion compared to FAA of N197 billion representing 8.06%; Ekiti with N4.9 billion compared to FAA of N59 billion representing 8.38%; Osun, N6.4 billion compared to FAA of N76 billion representing 8.45%; Adamawa with N6.2 billion compared to FAA of N72.9 billion representing 8.49%; Taraba, N5.7 billion compared to FAA of N66 billion representing 8.70% and Ebonyi with N5.1 billion compared to FAA of N57.8 billion representing 8%.
Lagos State has remained steadfast in its number one position in IGR with a total revenue generation of N333 billion compared to FAA of N201 billion which translates to 165% in 2017.
It is followed by Ogun which generated IGR of N74.83 billion compared to FAA of N69 billion representing 107%.
Others with impressive IGR include Rivers with N89 billion compared to FAA of N178 billion representing 50%; Edo with IGR of N25 billion compared to FAA of N75 billion representing 33%.
However, Kwara State, with a low receipt from the federation account has greatly improved in its IGR of N19 billion compared to FAA of N61 billion representing 32% while Enugu with IGR of N22 billion compared to FAA of N69 billion representing 32%.
Kano generated N42 billion compared to FAA of N143 billion representing 30% while Delta State earned N51 billion IGR against FAA of N175 billion representing 29%.
The Economic Confidential ASVI further showed that only three states in the entire northern region have IGR above 20%.
They are Kwara, Kano, and Kaduna. Meanwhile ten states in the South recorded over 20% IGR in 2017. They are Lagos, Ogun, Rivers, Edo, Enugu, Delta, Cross River, Anambra, Oyo and Abia.
The states with the poorest internally generated revenue of less than 10% in the South are Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Osun, Ekiti, Akwa Ibom and Imo while Gombe, Zamfara, Taraba, Adamawa, Jigawa, Niger, Katsina, Kebbi, Borno, Yobe and Bauchi top the states in the north.
