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Nigeria: Fiscal Discipline – Only 22 States Have Presented 2019 Budgets

As at December 23, 2018, a data analysis by Daily Trust has revealed that only 22 states of the federation have so far presented their budgets to their respective legislatures for consideration.

The analysis revealed that Edo, Delta, Kaduna and Niger states have their budgets already passed and ready to commence implementation by January 2, 2019. As at December 29, 2017, only Kaduna, Delta and Ogun State were ready to implement the budget from January 2, 2018. Ogun dropped out of that fiscal discipline in 2018. According to the data, the 22 states have proposed to spend a cumulative figure of N4,846 trillion. The value is N273 billion higher than their cumulative figure for 2018 where they budgeted N4, 572 trillion.

Among the states that have their budgets presented are: Benue, Akwa Ibom, Adamawa, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, Imo, Bayelsa, Ekiti, Kano, Katsina, Kwara, Kebbi, Jigawa, Ogun and Yobe. Governor Aminu Tambuwal would be presenting Sokoto State’s budget proposal to the state House of Assembly today.

The highest budgets proposed so far are those of Aka Ibom N670 billion (N651 billion in 2018); Ogun with N402.6 (N345 billion in 2018); and Delta with N390.3 billion (N298 billion in 2018). The lowest budgets were presented by Yobe State with N91.6 billion (N92.2 billion in 2018); Enugu N109.2 billion (N98.6 in 2018) and Ekiti N129 billion (N96 billion in 2018). In 2018, the highest budgets presented were from Cross River State with a whooping expenditure of N1.3 trillion, followed by Lagos State with N1.04 trillion. Yobe State in the North-East had the lowest budget proposal also.

A further breakdown of the 2019 cumulative budget proposals indicates that the 22 states plan to spend N2.8 trillion on capital projects, which represents N58.2 trillion. While N1.7 trillion will be spent on recurrent expenditure representing 42.8 per cent.

Benue

The governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, on Dec 7 presented the 2019 Appropriation Bill of N196.5 billion to the Benue House of Assembly for passage into law.

Akwa Ibom

A budget of N670.72 billion was presented to the state House of Assembly for consideration.

Adamawa

A budget estimate of N230, 989,412, 735.00 as 2019 Appropriation Bill was presented to the Adamawa State Assembly.

Anambra

Anambra has a budget estimate of N157.1 billion for the 2019 fiscal year before the state House of Assembly for approval.

Bauchi

Bauchi State Governor Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar presented the 2019 budget estimate of N196.7 billion to the State House of Assembly.

Delta

Delta State House of Assembly has passed the state’s 2019 Appropriation Bill with an increase of N23.3 billion to the initial budget of N367 billion presented by Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, bringing the budget to N390.3 billion.

Ebonyi

Ebonyi has a total appropriation bill of N188,401,913,868 for the 2019 fiscal year.

Enugu

Enugu has a budget proposal of N109.19 billion tagged ‘Budget of Peace, Equity and Prosperity’.Bayelsa

Governor of Bayelsa State Seriake Dickson presented a budget estimate of N275.8 billion to the State House of Assembly for the 2019 fiscal year.

Ekiti

The governor of Ekiti State, Dr Kayode Fayemi, presented a sum of N129.924,472,135.01 appropriation bill before the State House of Assembly for passage.

Kano

Kano State has a budget estimate of over N219 billion for the 2019 fiscal year before the state assembly. N134.06 billion is proposed for capital expenditure while over N85.10 billion is for the recurrent expenditure.

Kaduna

Kaduna State Governor Nasir el-Rufai, has signed N157.44bn as the state budget into law.

The total budget for the 2019 fiscal year is N200,741,960,745 with 73.7 per cent capital expenditure and 26.3 per cent recurrent expenditure. In aggregate terms, the 2019 budget is lower than that of 2018 by N12, 894,812,633.

Niger: The budget provided N65.413 billion for recurrent expenditure and N99.037 billion for capital expenditure.

Ogun: Gov. Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun presented a budget of N402.6 billion for 2019 to the State House of Assembly.

Kwara: The Kwara State House of Assembly has passed the 2019 budget of N157,802,032,561 into law.

Edo

Governor Obaseki had on November 26 presented a budget of N175 billion to the house for consideration but the house increased the estimates by N7.9 billion to accommodate more developmental programmes bringing the total amount to N183.7 billion.

Kebbi

Kebbi State Governor Atiku Bagudu presented a budget proposal of N151 billion for the 2019 fiscal year to the state House of Assembly.

Jigawa

The budget, which was tagged ‘Sustained economic growth and social transformation’, is about 14 per cent above the amount appropriated for 2018 by the state government. The appropriation bill comprises of N83.57 billion for recurrent expenditure while N73.97 billion goes for capital projects.

Yobe

Yobe State government projected N49, 968,967,000 or 54.5 percent for recurrent expenditure and N41,678,630,600 or 45.5 percent as capital spending.

The 2019 budget is slightly below that of 2018. It is N534, 739,000 or 0.6 percent less than it. Daily Trust