A report by BudgIT, a civic-tech organisation advocating fiscal transparency and accountability in public finance, has expressed concerns about states’ heavy dependence on federal revenue for implementation of yearly budgets.

It shows that Borno, Katsina, Plateau, Zamfara and Jigawa are dependent on revenue from the centre because of poor internally generated revenue (IGR).

The report, ‘State of States’, which looked at fiscal performance also focused on sub-national healthcare delivery for improved economic development.

Sharing findings at the launch in Abuja, yesterday, Head, Research and Policy Advisory, Iniobong Usen, said Kaduna, Rivers, Ogun, Bauchi and Osun rank higher on Index A; have been able to significantly grow their IGR year-on-year; and are progressively reducing over-reliance on federal transfers.

According to Usen, Lagos, Rivers, Ogun, Kaduna and Anambra, which rank higher on the index have comparatively limited dependence on federally distributed revenue for their operations and thus have greater viability if they were to theoretically exist as independent entities.

He said, Katsina, Yobe, Taraba, Bayelsa and Zamfara, which rank lower on Index A, either need to work harder on growing their IGR, considering the size of their operating expenses, or work towards pruning the expenses.

On Index B, Usen said Rivers, Ebonyi, Anambra, Bayelsa and Kaduna, which rank higher, have comparatively more public revenue left to implement the capital expenditure components of their budgets after fulfilling repayment obligations to lenders and their operating expenses.

He regretted that Abia, Imo, Yobe, Zamfara and Plateau, which rank lower on Index B, have comparatively less revenue left to implement the capital expenditure components of their budgets, and thus face a greater risk of resorting to more borrowing or under-implementing their capital budgets.

He added that on Index C, Jigawa, Delta, Akwa Ibom, Rivers and Bayelsa, which rank higher, have more comparative fiscal bandwidth to borrow more, due to their comparatively sustainable debt profiles, which is determined by their debt-to-revenue ratio, debt-to-GDP ratio, debt service-to-revenue ratio, and personnel cost to revenue ratio.