An investigation by the Economic Confidential has shown that 15 States may go bankrupt as their Internally Generated Revenues in 2015 were far below 10 per cent of their Federation Account Allocations in one year.
The period of the calculation of the IGR was from June 2015 to May 2016.
The report further indicated that the IGR of Lagos State of N268 billion is higher than that of 32 States combined, excluding Rivers, Delta and Ogun State, whose IGRs were very impressive.
The 32 other states merely generated N257 billion in 2015.
Recently the Economic Confidential, an economic intelligence magazine, published the total allocation each state in Nigeria received from the Federation Account Allocation between June 2015 and May 2016, which signified the first year of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.
The latest report on IGR reveals that only Lagos State generated more revenue than its allocation from the Federation Account by 150 per cent.
No other state has up to 100 per cent of its IGR when compared with the federal largesse.
The IGR of the 36 states of the federation totalled N682.67 billion in 2015 as compared to N707.85 billion in 2014, a drop of N25.18 billion or a minus 3.56 per cent.
The report provides shocking discovery that indicates that 15 states may go bankrupt and may not stay afloat outside the Federal Account Allocation due to lack of foresight in revenue generation drive, coupled with arm-chair governance.
The states that may not survive without the Federation Account due to poor internal revenues include Yobe, which generated a meagre N2.2 billion, compared to a total of N57.4 billion it received from the Federation Account Allocation from June 2015 to May 2016, representing about 3.9 per cent.
Others are: Zamfara with IGR of N2.7 billion compared to FAA of N56.6 billion, representing 4.8 per cent; Ekiti, N3.2 billion, compared to FAA of N50.460 billion, representing 6.5 per cent; Borno with N3.5 billion, compared to N78.7 billion of FAA, representing 4.5 per cent; and Kebbi, with IGR of N3.5 billion, compared to N64.8 billion of FAA, representing 5.5 per cent within the period under review.
Others poor internal revenue earners are Taraba State, which generated N4.1 billion compared to FAA of N56 billion, representing 6.4 per cent; Nassarawa, N4.4 billion, compared to FAA of N50.5 billion, representing 8.5 per cent; Adamawa, N4.4 billion, compared to FAA of N62.2 billion, representing 7.1 per cent; Gombe, N4.7 billion, compared to FAA of N49.8 billion, representing 9.6 per cent; Jigawa N5 billion, compared to FAA of N73 billion, representing 7 per cent; Bauchi, N5.3 billion, compared to FAA of N72.6 billion, representing 7.4 per cent; Imo N5.4 billion, compared to FAA of N71.6 billion, representing 7.6 per cent; Katsina, N5.7 billion, compared to FAA of N88.8 billion, representing 6.5 per cent; Niger N5.9 billion, compared to FAA of N74.8 billion, representing 8 per cent; and Sokoto, N6.2 billion, compared to FAA of N69.7 billion, representing 8.9 per cent.
Meanwhile, Lagos State retains its number one position in IGR with a total revenue generation of N268.22 billion in the 12 months under review.
It is followed by Rivers State with N82.10 billion; Delta State generated N40.80 billion; Ogun State, N34.59 billion; and Edo State N19.11 billion.
However, five other states look good to be on top of the current economic challenges.
They are: Enugu, Oyo, Anambra, Akwa Ibom and Kano, with N18.08 billion, N15.66 billion, N14.793 billion, N14.791 billion and N13.611 billion respectively.
The Economic Confidential report further showed that the richest northern state is Kano, which is the only state from the North to be among the 10 highest IGR earners, while the rest are Southern States.
The poorest southern State is Ekiti, which is the only state from the South to be among the 10 lowest IGR earners, while the rest in the category and bottom of the ladder are Northern States.
Meanwhile the IGR of the respective states can improve through aggressive diversification of the economy to productive sectors rather than relying on the monthly Federation Account revenue that largely come from the oil sector, the Economic Confidential said.
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