BARLY two weeks to the end of 2023, 32 State Governors in Nigeria have presented their proposed budget for 2024 totaling N14.04 trillion.
While there is no constitutional provision for the time frame a governor or president must submit a fiscal budget, it is believed that if the budget preparation, presentation and authorisation are done before the proposed fiscal year, it creates ample time for implementation.
The ICIR analysis, at the time of compiling the data, showed that states like Zamfara, Ondo, Niger and Kastina are yet to present their proposed 2024 budget to their respective state assembly.
While there are no clear reasons for this, the crises rocking the executive administration in Ondo state might have stalled the presentation of the 2024 budget.
Findings also showed that of the 32 states that have presented the budget, only two states, Kebbi and Rivers states, have approved the 2024 budget.
In Kebbi State, Governor Nasir Idris, approved the N250.1 billion budget for 2024 saying that education, infrastructure, and health sectors will be given much priority.
Also, in Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara, signed the state’s N800 billion 2024 budget into law just 24 hours after he presented it to five House of Assembly members in the state.
However, there are concerns that most budgets presented would run majorly on deficit. This is because some state generates very low Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and depend majorly on either federal government allocation (FAAC) or multilateral loans for financial institutions like the World Bank, IMF, AfDB and others.
The ICIR has reported how the 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory raised their external debts to N3.35 trillion and domestic debt to N5.82 trillion at the end of the second quarter of 2023.
The data collected from media reports showed that Lagos state presented the highest budget with N2.25 trillion. It was followed by Akwa Ibom with N845.63 billion and Rivers with N800 billion proposed for 2024.
States with the least budget are Ekiti State with N159.57 billion, Nasarawa State with N199.9 billion and Ebonyi State with N202.13 billion.
Breakdown of the data
In the Northwest region, the state governors of Sokoto, Kebbi, and Kano presented N270.1 billion, N250.1 billion, and N350 billion respectively as their 2024 budget. Also, Jigawa and Kaduna presented N298.14 billion and N458 billion, respectively.
Similarly, in the South-South region, Cross River, Akwa Ibom and Delta states presented N250 billion, N845.63 billion and N725 billion, respectively, while Bayelsa State presented N480.99 billion, Edo State presented N325.3 billion and Rivers State presented N800 billion.
In the North Central, Benue, Kogi, Plateau, Nassarawa and Kwara states proposed N225.7 billion, N258.28 billion, N295.4 billion, N199.9 billion and N296.4 billion separately.
For the Southeast region, the governors of Abia, Enugu and Ebonyi states proposed N567.2 billion, N521.5 billion, and N202.13 billion. While Anambra and Imo presented N410 billion and N592.2 billion apiece.
In the SouthWest region governors in Ekiti, Ogun, Osun and Oyo presented N159.57 billion, N703.03 billion, N273.9 billion and N434.2 billion respectively. Lagos State had a whooping N2.246 trillion as proposed budget in 2024.
While in the NorthEast, Adamawa, Bauchi and Borno had N225.8 billion, N300.2 billion and N340.6 billion apiece. Also, Gombe, Taraba and Yobe have N207.8 billion, N311.3 billion, and N217 billion respectively as their 2024 proposed budget.
The ICIR has reported how five states got the highest federal allocations yet topped the debt chart in 2022.
Kehinde Ogunyale tells stories by using data to hold power into account. You can send him a mail at jameskennyogunyale@gmail or Twitter: Prof_KennyJames | LinkedIn: Kehinde Ogunyale