New Telegraph

IGR: 36 states, FCT revenue drop by N81bn in H1

…rake in N612.87bn in 6 months

  • Lagos tops with N204.51bn

 

  • Jigawa least with N3bn

 

The 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja raked in a total of N612.87 billion as internally generated revenue (IGR) between January and June 2020, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed.

 

The latest IGR figure indicates a negative growth of -11.7% in revenue for the states compared to the same period in 2019 when they generated a total of N693.91 billion.

 

With this, the states and FCT had lost a total of N81.04 billion in revenue year-on-year. A breakdown of the half-year revenue showed that the states generated N353.14 billion in the first   quarter and N259.73 billion in the second quarter, totalling N612.87 billion. This indicates a negative growth of -26.5% quarteron- quarter.

 

According to the halfyear IGR figures released by the NBS, the revenues for the states were generated from workers’ pay-asyou- earn (PAYE) taxes, road taxes, direct assessment, and other funds generated by the respective states’ Ministries, Agencies and Departments (MDAs). The statistics showed that Lagos remained the richest state in the country in terms of IGR as it generated N204.51 billion in the period under review.

 

By this record, the state alone accounted for 33.37 per cent of the total revenue generated by the 36 states and the FCT. Lagos revenue generation was in sharp contrast with that of Jigawa, which recorded the least among the states as it generated N3 billion.

 

This was followed by Ekiti with N3.2 billion, Adamawa with N3.75 billion and Gombe with N3.78 billion. Rivers State tailed Lagos with N64.6 billion (10.54%) IGR in the period under review, while the FCT came third with N35.2 billion (5.74%) revenue, followed by Delta State, which raked in N30.8 billion (5.03%) in the six months.

 

Ogun state generated N28.6 billion within the same period to occupy the 5th position. Other states’ revenue for the period are Oyo N17.8 billion; Kano N17.5 billion; Akwa Ibom N16.2 billion; Kaduna N14.5 billion; Edo N14 billion; Enugu N12.2 billion; Ondo N13.5 billion; Anambra N9.5 billion; Plateau N9.4 billion; Kwara N9.3 billion; Osun N8.9 billion; Cross River N8 billion; Imo N7.7 billion; Kogi N7.4 billion; and Zamafara N7 billion.

 

The other states are: Ebonyi N6.3 billion; Bauchi N5.7 billion; Bayelsa N5.3 billion; Benue N5.3 billion; Borno N5.3 billion; Gombe N3.7 billion; Katsina N5.5 billion; Kebbi N4.3 billion; Nassarawa N5.9 billion; Niger N4 billion; Sokoto N4.5 billion; Taraba N4 billion; and Yobe N3.9 billion. NBS said that it computed states’ IGR data in collaboration with the Joint Tax Board from official records and submissions by the 36 State Boards of Internal Revenue.

 

“These submissions are then validated and authenticated by the Joint Tax Board, which is chaired by the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), has the NBS and the 36 State Boards of Internal Revenue as members,” the report stated. The reality of declining revenue for the year had dawned on all the state governments after the April full lockdown of the economy due to COVID-19; forcing the 36 states to slash their budgets by over N3 trillion.

 

The states’ aggregate budget of N9.2 trillion earlier signed into law was revised to N6.2 trillion as revenue dwindled. The states rely heavily on the monthly allocation from the Federal Government and IGR to fund their budget.

 

However; the slump in oil price means less money from the Federa-  tion Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC); while projections for IGR have also been shattered by the downturn in the economy. For instance, Cross River State, which had signed one of the largest budgets for the year; almost the same as Lagos; took the largest cut as it reduced its financial plan by a whopping 85 per cent.

The state slashed its N1.1 trillion budget to N147.1 billion; slicing away N853.9 billion from its initial spending plan. Lagos State, which had also signed a budget of N1.17 trillion for the 2020 fiscal year had to slash the same by N247.8 billion (21 per cent). This brought the state’s budget down to N920.5 billion; and the largest by any state of the federation for the 2020 fiscal year.

 

The Babajide Sanwo- Olu-led government was forced to review the budget following downward pressure of the IGR, increased inflation, the decline in demand for goods and services, reduction in manufacturing activities and increased unemployment, among others

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