BudgIT: Akwa Ibom 2020 budget is among the most viable

The Akwa Ibom state 2020 budget proposal has been identified as one of the most viable in the country.

This is part of a new report released by BudgIT, a budget tracking civil society organisation. It indicated that only four states in Nigeria namely Akwa Ibom, Lagos and Rivers are viable.

According to the report titled: “State of States” which was presented by Ojiugo Uche, research and policy lead analyst for BudgIT, showed that most states’ economies are tied to informal trade and skeletal industrial output with exception of Akwa Ibom, Lagos, Rivers, Delta and Ogun.

“Most Nigerian states have still not figured out how to harness their collective strengths and establish a single focus on investment products, thereby becoming a fulcrum of productivity and not just FAAC distribution centers,” the report read.

“In the 2019 report, we made mild changes to our methodology, thereby using actual expenditure for the states, reducing the probability of the unreality of inflated budgeted figures especially for expenditure items.”

Similarly, Akwa Ibom, according to the latest rating released by the joint tax board (JTB), has moved from 16th position on the internally generated revenue (IGR) rating table in 2015 to number six (6) on the table in 2019.

There have been major reforms in tax administration in the state since the Emmanuel administration came on board in 2015.

According to reports, with the latest rating, the state’s IGR reached an all-time high of N24.8 billion within eight months, January to August 2019.