Rivers State earned the top spot in the 2021 Budget Performance Rankings, beating 35 other states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in the BudgIT 2021 State of the States Report.
A close look at the national fiscal outlook shows that Rivers State has again topped the overall 2021 fiscal performance rankings despite COVID-19 induced fiscal shocks to its IGR, indicating that the fiscal fundamentals of the state state, compared to other states, are run more cautiously. .
Two states came in as new entrants in the Top 5 category of the overall 2021 ranking – Ebonyi State came in second, up from sixth in 2020, and Kebbi State came out in fifth position, compared to 11th position in 2020.
The entry of Ebonyi and Kebbi States into the Top 5 category was largely driven by the growth of the RGI of the two states as recorded by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
In the 2021 Performance Rankings, two states dropped out of the Top 5 overall; Ogun State (now 19th) and Kano State (now 22nd), due to a sharp decline in their IGR in 2020.
A closer look at the report shows that the top 5 states are Rivers (1), Ebonyi (2), Anambra (3), Lagos (4) and Kebbi (5), while the bottom 5 are Bayelsa (36), Taraba (35), Benue (34), Katsina (33) and Adamawa (32).
The other states are Kaduna (6), Gombe (7), Cross River (8), Edo (9), Kwara (10), Zamfara (11), Sokoto (12), Osun (13), Enugu (14), Abia (15), Nasarawa (16), Borno (17) and Plateau (18).
Others include Ogun (19), Imo ranked 20, Yobe ranked 21, Kano (22), Oyo (23), Akwa Ibom (24), Jigawa (25), Niger (26), Bauchi (27), Kogi (28), Ekiti (29), Ondo (30) and an oil and gas producing state – Delta – in 31st position.
In fact, three oil and gas producing states – Bayelsa, Delta and Ondo – feature in the bottom 7 of the 2021 budget performance ranking, showing shamefully frivolous management of scarce resources accruing to the states during the year under review. .
In the Comparative State Viability Index, only three states in the country can meet their operating expense obligations with a combination of their IGR and Value Added Tax (VAT), as measured in the ranking. of the BudgIT State Performance Index: Lagos, Rivers and Anambra.
The States Performance Index ranked Lagos first with a score of 0.70, Rivers second with a score of 0.81, Anambra third with a score of 0.99, Ebonyi fourth with a score of 1.08 and Cross River fifth with a score of 1.21.
Kaduna scored 1.22 to finish sixth, Kebbi scored 1.26 to finish seventh, Osun scored 1.36 to finish ninth, Zamfara scored 1.45 to finish 10th, Plateau scored 1.48 to finish 11th, Gombe scored 1.49 to rank 12th while Edo scored 1.54 to exit 13th in the standings. ranking.
Kwara ranked 14th with a score of 1.55, Enugu ranked 15th with a score of 1.66, Oyo ranked 16th with a score of 1.66, Sokoto ranked 17th with a score of 1.72, Imo ranked 18th with a score of of 1.76, Abia 19th with a score of 1.78, Kano 20th with a score of 1.82, Borno 21st with a score of 1.99, Nasarawa 22nd with a score of 1.99 and Kogi 23rd with a score of of 2.09.
With a score of 2.18, Bauchi ranked 24th, Yobe scored 2.26 to rank 25th, Niger scored 2.30 to rank 26th, Adamawa scored 2.33 to rank 27th, Ondo scored 2.33 to rank 28th, Akwa Ibom scored 2.34 to rank 29th, Katsina scored 2.41 to rank 29th. emerges 30th while Ekiti scored 2.47 to finish 31st.
In the bottom 5 of the State Performance Index are Jigawa who scored 2.47 to rank 32nd, Delta 2.51 score 33rd, Benue 2.64 score 34th, Taraba scored 3.23 to go out 35th and Bayelsa scored 5.32 in the 36th gross.
The BudgIT report urged states at the bottom of the A Index rankings to do more to quickly consolidate all ongoing strategies to improve their IGR and, by extension, their viability as unifying entities.
In its ranking of states’ performance on the B Index which measures the availability of government revenue to invest in infrastructure after meeting repayment obligations to lenders and their government’s operating expenditures, the BudgIT report ranked Ebonyi as leading with a score of 0.47, Rivers second with a score of 0.48, Kebbi third with a score of 0.51, Anambra fourth with a score of 0.53 and Kaduna fifth with a score of 0.57.
States with less revenue to invest in infrastructure for citizens, and also facing greater borrowing risk are Zamfara which scored 0.96 and ranked 33rd, Oyo at 0.98 and ranked 34th, Benue who scored 1.00 and ranked 35th, and Taraba who ranked 36th with a score of 1.19.
However, BudgIT warned that “all Nigerian states still need to work hard to build economic prosperity and create more jobs in their states to ensure that there is more money in circulation and economic activities. which can be taxed to improve their IGR”.
On the outlook for subnational debt, the BudgIT report said that “cumulatively, the total debt burden of the 36 states increased by 472.63 trillion naira or 8.78%, from 5.39 trillion naira in 2019 to N5.86 trillion naira in 2020. This increase in total sub-national debt was largely driven by exchange rate volatility which saw the value of the Naira fall from N305.9/$1 in 2019 to N380/$1 as of December 31, 2020.”
Its spending priorities report shows that “Based on each state’s 2020 revenue, five states prioritized infrastructure investment by spending more on capital spending than operating spending. The states are Ebonyi, Rivers, Anambra and Cross River States in the south and Kaduna State in the north.
The BudgIT report also gave a detailed breakdown of the Rivers State growth indices on the five-year IGR revenue trend from 2016 to 2020, with 85.29 billion naira in 2016, 89.48 billion naira in 2017, 112.78 billion naira in 2018, 140.40 billion naira in 2019. and 117.19 billion naira in 2020.
It showed that FAAC’s gross revenue was N104.93 billion in 2016, N138.15 billion in 2017, N172.87 billion in 2018, N169.13 billion in 2019 and N149.75 billion in 2020.
The state’s annual growth rate from 2019 to 2020 shows that the IGR decreased by -16.53%, the gross FAAC was -11.46%, while the capital expenditure was -24.14 %.
Further, the state state recurrent revenue structure for 2020 reported N117.19 billion in IGR value or 43.90% compared to N149.75 billion in gross FAAC value or 56 .10%.
On the 2020 Expenditure Priority Index, Rivers State reported capital expenditure of N168.36 billion or 59.70% against operating expenditure of N113.65 billion or 40 ,30%.
The BudgIT report also gave an analysis of the per capita of Rivers State for 2020, which stood at IGR 14,005 per capita; N20 120 Capital expenditure per capita; and N36,291 Total debt per capita.
The BudgIT report states that “Rivers State’s IGR was still the second highest in the country and accounted for 9.65% of the total N1,210,000,000,000,000 generated by the 36 states; it was only surpassed by Lagos State, with an IGR of N418.98 billion in 2020″.

From: Nelson Chukwudi