MARGARET CHIDERA
Despite elimination of 15,397 ghost workers from the payroll of 13 States of the federation, the cumulative personnel cost of the 36 States grew by 5.38% from N1.46tn to N1.54tn in 2022.
This was contained in the State of States 2022 report released by BudgIT yesterday in Abuja.
According to the report, 11 States increased their overhead cost from the previous year by more than 40%, with Akwa Ibom having the highest growth of 424.60%.
“Cumulative personnel cost of the 36 States grew by 5.38% from N1.46tn to N1.54tn, despite the discovery and elimination of at least 15,397 ghost workers in 13 states across the federation.
“Cumulative CAPEX by the 36 States grew by 52.52% from N1.77tn in 2020 to N2.70tn in 2021
“While Lagos State, with capital importation of $31.78bn between 2019 and 2021, received 99.19% of capital importation received by 36 states, 11 states received no capital importation within that period.
“35 States, excluding Taraba, have captured the biometric and BVN data of at least 70% of the civil servants and pensioners on their payroll, and linked the captured data to their payroll
“At least 20 states have enacted Audit laws that grant operational and financial autonomy to the Offices of Auditors-General of the State and Local Government.
“Only few states have been able to establish and operationalise a Treasury Single Account (TSA) to ensure that it covers at least 70% of all its finances.
“Cumulative revenues of the states grew by 9.19% from the N4.69tn earned in 2020 to N5.12tn in 2021.
“There was a 33.66% year-on-year growth in the cumulative Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of the 36 states, from N1.2trn to N1.61tn (0.98% of GDP)
“50% of the total revenue of 33 states were federal transfers, 13 states relied on federal transfers for at least 70% of their total revenues
“Cumulative expenditure of the 36 states increased by 27% from N5.23tn in 2020 to N6.64tn in 2021.”
In his speech, the Country Director, BudgIT Nigeria, Gabriel Okeowo said that the number of datasets have increased in this year’s edition of the report as compared to the previous year.
“Every year, we painstakingly ensure that we improve the quality of the report by reviewing its methodology to meet a significant level of objectivity and by involving critical stakeholders in this process.
“I am happy to say that this year’s edition of the State of States made us consult with the World Bank, Debt Management Office as well as Budget and Finance Commissioners and Directors from across the 36 states to collect their reactions to our data analysis and to improve the level of acceptance of the States’ fiscal performance when the report is finally published to the public.”
