Kastina, Six Others Insolvent, Survive On Federal Allocations

Economic Confidential, a publication of PRNigeria, yesterday, released its Annual States Viability Index (ASVI).
The report shows that seven states, led by Katsina, are insolvent as their Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) in 2019 were below 10 per cent of their total federal allocation in the same year.
The IGR is generated through Pay-As-You-Earn Tax (PAYE), direct assessment, road taxes and revenues from Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
Last year, the ASVI revealed that only 10 Nigerian states were financially strong.
The latest index shows that without the monthly disbursement from the Federation Account Allocation (FAA), many states would be unviable.
It put the IGR generated by 36 states at N1.3trillion in 2019, compared to N1.1trillion in 2018.
Lagos State’s IGR of N398billion in 2019 was higher than 20 states’ IGR combined, thus maintaining its number one position.
Lagos received N270billion FAA, which shows that its IGR was 147 per cent more than the federation allocation.
In the year under review, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja generated N74billion against its N30billion FAA.
According to the report, Ogun State generated N70.92billion IGR compared to N92billion FAA – representing 77 per cent; Rivers State generated N140billion against N219billion FAA – representing 64 per cent; while Kwara State generated N30billion compared to N80billion FAA – representing 38 per cent.
The report indicated that Kaduna State generated N44billion compared to N129billion FAA – representing 35 per cent; Enugu State generated N31billion against N103billion FAA – representing 29 per cent; and Ondo State generated N30billion compared to N103billion FAA – representing 29 per cent.
It further revealed that Edo State generated N29billion compared to N108billion FAA – representing 27 per cent; Anambra State generated N26billion against N98billion FAA – representing 27 per cent; just as Cross River State generated N22billion compared to N99billion FAA – representing 25 per cent.
The report shows that in 2019, 10 states generated N894billion IGR, while the remaining 26 states generated N440billion.
It confirms that most states have improved their IGR as only seven generated less than 10 per cent, against 17 states in 2018.
For the weak seven states, Katsina, the home state of President Muhammadu Buhari, tops the list, as it generated N8billion IGR compared to N136billion FAA – representing 6 per cent.
Also, Kebbi State generated N7.3billion compared to N100billion FAA – representing 7 per cent; Borno State generated N8billion against N121billion FAA – representing 7 per cent; while Taraba State generated N6.5billion compared to N86billion FAA – representing 8 per cent.