We did a detailed review of the revenue profile of Nigerian states and regions and the results are startling.
The North-East geopolitical zone ranked as the most dependent region on federal allocation. This isn’t really surprising considering the fact that the region has been battling insurgency for over a decade. A whopping 85% of the revenue of North Eastern states were allocations from the federal government.
On the other hand, the South East surprisingly ranked as the second most dependent region on federal allocation. No one would expect a state in the eastern part of Nigeria to be more dependent on federal allocation than Kaduna! This is rather mind-boggling as the eastern part of Nigeria has always been seen to be industrious and hardworking.
Looking at the chart below, Federal Allocation accounts for about 76% of the total revenue of the states in the South East in the year 2019. This huge dependence on federal allocation raises the question of how the region will survive if it attains its much-vaulted nationhood of Biafra.
A further look at the figures indicates that the South West is the most independent region of the lot. The region only has a 36% dependence on Federal Government allocation, while about 64% of income is generated within the region as IGR. Of course, within the South West, there is variation in performance, with Lagos and Ogun states performing better than the other 4 states in the region in terms of Internally Generated Revenues.
The South-South was found to be the second most independent region with a 69.30% dependence on Federal Government allocation.
For further information on how each region faired in 2019, check the charts below.
