STATE OF STATES 2021 EDITION

Abstract

Economic shocks from the COVID-19 pandemic took a toll on states’ Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and their share of federally collected revenue in 2020. Cumulatively, all 36 states saw a 3.43% decline in their IGR from N1.26tn in 2019 to N1.21tn in the year 2020 under review. In total, 18 states saw a decline in their year-on-year IGR2 while 18 other states could weather the fiscal storm induced by the pandemic, growing their revenue — in some cases by as high as 87.02%. Worthy of note is Lagos state, which despite being the epicentre of the pandemic, saw a 5.08% growth in its IGR, a testament to the resilience of its fiscal strategy. Rivers state once again topped the overall 2021 Fiscal Performance Ranking despite COVID-19 induced fiscal shocks to its IGR, indicating that the fiscal fundamentals of this state, compared to others in the country, are more prudently managed. Two states made it, as new entrants, to the Top 5 category in the overall 2021 ranking - Ebonyi state emerged in 2nd position; up from 6th position in 2020 ranking, and Kebbi state emerged in 5th position, up from 11th position in 2020. The entrance of Ebonyi and Kebbi states into the Top 5 category was driven largely by growth in both state’s IGR as recorded by the National Bureau of Statistics. Ebonyi state grew its IGR by 82.3% from N7.5bn in 2019 to N13.6bn in 2020, while Kebbi state grew its revenue by 87.02% from N7.4bn in 2020 to N13.8bn in 2020. In the case of Ebonyi state, an additional performance driver was that it also significantly prioritized investment in state infrastructure, given its available revenue; it spent more on capital expenditures (N76.1bn) compared to its spending on operating expenses (N29.5bn). Ebonyi is also one of five states who spent more on capital expenditures than operating expenses.