Ebonyi State Stands out among South-East States in Budget Implementation

At the end of the third quarter of 2022, Ebonyi State stands out among southeastern states in the implementation of its budget. 

Ths state implemented 73.85 per cent of its budget for the first three-quarters of the year. It spent N80.54 billion of the N109.06 billion earmarked to be spent by the end of Q3.

Other states in the region performed below average, with the Abia and Anambra states recording a 31.93 per cent and 31.75 per cent performance by the end of Q3 2022. Abia State spent N35.27 billion of N110.46 it earmarked to be spent, while Anambra State spent N40.4 billion of N127.22 billion.

With a budget implementation report (BIR) for just the first two quarters, Imo State recorded 52.8 per cent. The state spent N100.7 billion of N190.73 of its budget for the first two quarters of the year. Similarly, Enugu State, only has a BIR for the first two quarters of the year. The state spent N38.03 billion out of N93.32 billion.

Southeast’s Regional Budget Appropriation

The five southeastern states had a combined budget of N1.03 trillion for 2022. Abia State budgeted N147.28 billion, Anambra State N169.62 billion, Ebonyi State N145.41 billion, Enugu State N189.64 billion, and Imo State N381.46 billion.

A review of the BIR reports of the states shows that Abia, Anambra, and Ebony states had a first three-quarter budget of N346.74 billion. These states collectively spent N156.21 billion by the end of Q3.

Enugu and Imo states, whose BIR reports are for the first two quarters, planned to spend N284.05 billion. The states, however, spent N138.74 billion by the end of the second quarter.

A revenue of N514.26 billion was proposed to fund the southeast states’ budget. This gives a deficit of N516.15 billion for the region.

By the end of Q3, Abia, Anambra, and Ebonyi states generated N192.22 billion of the N202.11 billion pro rata revenue. This shows a 95.16 per cent revenue generation performance.

Enugu and Imo states that by the end of Q2, they generated 73.82 per cent of their pro rata revenue. The states generated N90.36 billion of N122.39 billion.

Federation Account Revenue vs. Internal Generated Revenue (IGR)

A pro rata analysis for the first three quarters shows that N131.46 billion of the N202.11 billion for Abia, Anambra, and Ebonyi states was to come from the federation account revenue. This represents 68.35 per cent of the total revenue.

The federation account revenue to Enugu and Imo states by the end of Q2 represents 81.67 per cent of its pro rata revenue. The states had N73.81 billion from the federation account of the N122.39 billion total revenue.

Ebonyi State has the highest dependence on revenue from the federation account. Of the N59.74 billion it expects to generate within the first three quarters, N43.103 was to come from federation account revenue allocations. This shows 72.15  per cent of the state’s revenue in the first three quarters of the year came from allocations from the federation account. 

According to its budget for the year, Imo State proposed to generate 55.79 per cent of its revenue for the first three quarters of the year from the federation account revenue allocation. This is the least amount proposed by any state in the region.  The state proposed to generate N39.85 billion from the federation account location out of the N71.43 billion total revenue it proposed for the period.

Other states had a proportion of federation account revenue from 55 per cent to 72 per cent for the period.

Abia, Anambra, and Ebonyi states recorded a 24.42 per cent internal revenue performance. The states generated N46.97 billion of the N18.94 billion by the end of the third quarter.

Enugu and Imo generated N18.94 billion of their pro rata N46.97 billion by the end of Q2. This represents 20.96 per cent of the total revenue.

Across the states in this region, Ebonyi State is the only state that generated more of its proposed revenue, both federation account revenue (102.81 per cent performance) and IGR (108.96 per cent performance).

Other states in the region fell short of their IGR projections, with performance ranging from 34.26 per cent in Imo State to 56.31 per cent in Abia State.

The states, however, generated more than it proposed to generate as receipts from the federation account. Apart from Enugu State, which got 91.09 per cent of its federation account revenue for the period, others got above 100 per cent performance, with Abia State recording a 119.73 per cent federation account revenue performance.

Recurrent vs. Capital

The five Southeastern states budgeted heavily towards capital expenditure. Dataphyte’s analysis of the approved budget for the 2022 financial year revealed that four out of the five states in the region had at least 54 per cent of their budget going to capital expenditure. 

Anambra State is the only state in the region, with 57 per cent of its budget going to recurrent expenditure.

Budget implementation analysis revealed that most funds in three states went to capital expenditure. Anambra, Ebonyi, and Imo states spent 57 per cent, 63 per cent, and 72 per cent on capital expenditure by the end of Q3 2022.

Abia and Enugu states spent 15 per cent and 39 per cent of their expenditure on capital expenditures.

However, the budget implementation shows that of the states in this region, only Ebonyi State, had a three-quarters budget performance of 73.85 per cent. The state spent N80.54 billion out of its proposed N109.06 for the first three quarters.

Imo State recorded a 52.8 per cent performance, having spent N100,7 billion of its proposed 190.73 billion. The other state’s expenditure performance is 40.77 per cent for Enugu State, 31.93 per cent for Abia State, and 31.75 per cent for Anambra State.