The 36 states in Nigeria generated a mere 25.5 per cent or N765 billion out of the total revenue of N2.992 trillion generated in 2017, up by a mere 2.5 per cent from the level in 2016, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said.
The meaning is that without the support of the Federal Government, nearly all the 36 states, outside Lagos and Rivers would not be able to run effectively.
A further breakdown of IGR, showed that Lagos garnered a sizeable 68.4 percent, followed by oil-rich Rivers with 43.3 per cent and Kwara in the North-Central, 34.4 per cent; while Bayelsa, neighbor to Rivers State came last on the IGR table, which just 5.3 per cent of the 2017 total.
The most significant improvement in IGR was recorded by north-eastern state of Gombe, which increased its IGR by 16.3 per cent; from 12.9 percent in 2016; ahead of Benue and Abia.
The CBN says total revenue of the 36 state governments in the country grew by a robust 21.3 per cent to N2.992 trillion in 2017, representing a mere 2.6 per cent of GDP, compared to N2.467 trillion or 2.4 per cent of GDP in 2016.
The states however received N1.462 trillion, or 48.9 per cent, the lion’s share of their revenue, for the period from the monthly Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) distributions (including 13 per cent Derivative Fund).
Value-Added Tax (VAT) pool account yielded N473.8 billion, or 15.8 per cent; exchange gain, N123.1 billion, or 4.1 per cent; excess Petroleum Profit Tax, N94.5 billion, representing 3.2 per cent; just as grants and others (including share of stabilization fund and recovered excess bank changes amounted to N73.8 billion, or 2.5 per cent.
The various states governments however raised their spending level by 15.4 per cent to N3.702 trillion, representing 3.2 per cent of GDP, with N2.663 trillion, or 2.3 per cent of GDP, of which 32.6 per cent of recurrent expenditure, accounting for the 71.9 per cent of total. This left capital expenditure at N1.039 trillion or 28.1 per cent of total, which was 13.4 percent below the 2016 level.
“Analysis of spending on primary welfare sectors indicated that outlay on education rose by 89 per cent to N305.8 billion, above N161.8 billion in 2016, and represented 37.9 per cent of the total.
“Also, expenditure on housing, health, agriculture and water supply rose by 177.3 per cent, 148.3 percent, 34.1 per cent and 6.9 per cent to N57 billion, N264.8 billion, N123.2 billion and N55.7 billion, respectively, relative to the levels in 2016,” the report noted, adding that aggregate expenditure on primary welfare sector amounted to N806.4 billion, or 0.7 per cent of GDP, and accounted for 21.8 per cent of total expenditure.