Many states of the federation rely on the scheduled and monthly revenue allocations from central government, Abuja, for the funding of their internal operational activities.
The basket-in-hand pilgrimages to Abuja undertaken every month by state authorities is a source of amusement and constant debate.There are rich and poorer states in Nigeria determined by the ability and availability of opportunities to generate revenues internally for capital and recurrent expenditure.
Some states are oil-rich while others have natural resources they could develop and some invent Internally Generated revenue schemes and sources. Some simply have nothing.
There are two issues to consider here.
The argument is continuous on whether Nigeria, a federation of states, practices true federalism or not and the failure of some states to show capacity in the development of IGRs.
While the argument over and advocacy for True Federalism rages on, two states have shown the required capacity to provide alternative revenue sources for the operations without over-dependency on and to compliment their monthly state allocations.
Word on the street has it that Lagos State, Nigeria’s commercial capital and West Africa’s commercial hub, generates more revenue annually than most states have as their budgets.
Cross River State has found a means of survival, albeit as a stopgap, in the development of its tourism potential.
The federal government’s rationale for the determination of each state’s monthly revenue allocation is predicated on the earnings of the country from its primary economic resource, oil.
The mechanisms are of no interest to this debate, however, it is important to note that the richest states in Nigeria are those within the oil-producing regions of the country.
Similarly, the poorest states are those far-removed from oil resources and lacking in other natural resources within them.
Regardless, it is the duty of each state administration to seek alternative sources of revenue to supplement or compliment their monthly allocations. This requires intellectual and academic capacity to be found within its own people.
The impact of political will or lack thereof and corruption in leadership is one of the numerous reasons why many states reduce themselves to beggars in the dependency culture that exists in Nigeria.
Or their part, central government retains the overall rights over activities of exploitation and exploration of natural resources in many states.
Word on the street is that if Nasarawa State in North-Central Nigeria was allowed to exploit the availability of precious metals and solid minerals, this could provide a great deal of revenue for the state.
Further word on the street says the exploration and exploitation of solid minerals in Nigeria is the exclusive purview of the federal government.
Whilst Lagos State has greatly improved its IGRs through taxation of various forms, while providing infrastructure and services, Cross River State has focused on the development of its Tourism potential with the month-long Calabar Carnival and numerous resorts to attract visitors all-year round.
It is pertinent to note that the greatly admired Emirate of Dubai was built solely on the back of Tourism and not oil, as often mistakenly thought, which is what Abu Dhabi next door relies on.
Given that there is no True Federalism in practice in Nigeria yet, should states solely rely on trudging off to Abuja every month to be able to pay salaries and operating expenses at the expense of capital projects?
What is the main premise for the determination of Annual State Budgets based on? Is this projection made on the anticipated acquisition of government allocations?
A friend of D&R asked, “Have we also lost the capacity to think?”
What do you think?
