States, FCT IGR hit N579.490bn in 6 months

…Grow revenue by 27.7% in H1 2018
…As Lagos, Rivers, Ogun, FCT top IGR table
…Get N1.23trn allocation from FAAC in first 6 months
The 36 States of the federation and FCT have recorded an Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of N579.490 billion in the first half of 2018, as against N453.833 billion posted in the corresponding period of 2017, representing a growth of 27.7 per cent year-on-year, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has shown.

The latest statistics showed that 28 states recorded growth in IGR while 8 states, including Abia, Anambra, Benue, Taraba, Kebbi, Kwara, Ebonyi and Enugu, recorded a decline in 2018 H1. In the first and second quarters of the year, the states generated N280.835 billion and N263.343 billion respectively.

The revenues generated by the states came mainly from Pay-As-You-Earn Tax (N352.509 billion), Direct Assessment (N26.293 billion), Road Taxes (N11.681 billion), Other Taxes (N84.033 billion) and revenues from Ministries, Departments and Agencies (N104.972 billion).

A breakdown of the report showed that Lagos, Rivers, Ogun, FCT and Delta were the best five performers during the period under review.

For instance, Lagos State generated total sum of N196.395 billion, increased by 16.88 per cent from N168.025 billion in H1 2017, to top the list.

In second place is Rivers with N60.906 billion, an increase of 36.13 per cent, from the N44.742 billion recorded last year. Ogun State improved by 6.70 per cent to N42.519 billion from N39.849 billion in the comparable period of 2017.

As for FCT, it recorded N35.311 billion during the period, while Delta State posted N29.797 billion, a growth of 17.80 percent from N25.103 billion in 2017.

In 2017, the states generated N931.23 billion, an increase of 12.03 per cent from 2016. In the second half of 2017, the total revenue generated by states was N432.65bn, compared to N409.09 billion in first half of the year.

Meanwhile, the net allocation from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) in half year 2018 stood at N1.23 trillion while the total revenue available to the states was put at N1.74 trillion.

However, the value of foreign debt stood at $4.22 billion, while domestic debt had reached N3.38 trillion as at the end of June 2018, compared to $4.11 billion and N3.35 trillion as at December 2017.

The NBS, in its State Level IGR report for the second quarter (Q2, 2018), further explained that some states declared high level of increases including Akwa Ibom with a 61.5 per cent increase in IGR to N11.8 billion as at June 2018 from N7.32 billion a year earlier.

Cross River and Gombe states marked 47.44 and 40.9 percent increases from N6.6 billion to N9.75 billion and from N1.7 billion to N2.4 billion respectively, during the review periods.

But going by the revenue and debt profiles of the states, it is apparent that several of them would likely collapse without allocations from the federally collected revenue. Already, many states are incapable of paying monthly salaries to their workers without the monthly disbursement from the FAAC.

The Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, had advised state governments to slash bogus overhead spending by embracing fiscal discipline in order ensure higher deliverables.

Ahmed, made the call in Kaduna State during the week, while speaking at the ongoing 2018 Conference of the National Council on Finance and Economic Development (NACOFED).

She maintained that states should look inwards to harness various avenues to improve on their financial resources in order to meet demands in their states.