As the economic crunch bites ever harder on the general population of the most populous nation in Africa due largely to policies and maladministration of the successive governments, both under the military and democratic rules, the populace appears gradually more alert and agitated over the conditions they find themselves – where basic necessities, such as food, healthcare, education, water, electricity, etc, have become unattainable – amidst disregard and haughty display of wealth by the ruling political class.
Recent desktop investigation conducted by the 247ureports.com on the financial resources available to the various geopolitical zones in Nigeria through examination of their monthly allocations from the federal government to each state, monthly allocations to each of the local government areas [LGAs], internally-generated revenues [IGRs] and other miscellaneous sources, indicates that Nigeria may not be as cash-strapped as popularly depicted by politically-elected officials and their financial analysts.
Taking the South-East States as the starter case, it was found that the five States of the South-East raked-in a minimum of N752billion within the period of twelve [12] months stretching from November 2022 to October 2023. Of a little-over N379billion of the N750billion was collected from the monthly allocation by the five states, N266billion collected from the monthly allocations to each of the LGAs of the five south-east states, and N107billion collected as the IGRs for the five states. Data was sourced from the National Bureau of Statistics.
See breakdowns below.
The below tabular [Table 1] and graphic [Figure 1] presentation shows the various monies collected by the five States for the aforementioned periods, covering twelve months. It shows Anambra State topping the list at N91.8billion, followed by Enugu State at N75billion. Ebonyi State collected the least at a distant N64.67billion. it can be deduced from the graphical presentation that Anambra State received the highest amounts of monies consistently above the other four south-eastern states for the twelve months period.
Table 1:
Table 2:
Enugu state collected the highest amount at N28.28billion for the 12months at an average monthly collection rate of N2.36billion for by Anambra state at monthly collection rate of N2.13billion equivalent to N25.54billion for the 12months. Abia state collected the least at N1.26billion monthly rate equivalent of N15.1billion for the 12months.
Table 3:
Abia: N1.26b [Mon] : N15.10b [12mons]
Imo: N1.67b [Mon] : N19.98b [12mons]
Enugu: N2.36b [Mon] : N28.28b [12mons]
Anambra:N2.13b [Mon] : N25.54b [12mons]
Ebonyi: N1.29b [Mon] : N15.50b [12mons]
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The summation of the tabular and graphic representations above shows the respective monies collected for each of the five States from the monthly allocations to the States, the LGAs and IGRs.
Each State for the period examined collected a total sum of:
Abia N134billion
Imo N164billion
Enugu N154billion
Anambra N180billion
Ebonyi N118billion
The respective amounts shown above paint a revealing picture of the plight faced by the people of the South-East when presented in the proper context.
For instance, between November 2022 to October 2023, Abia State earned a total sum of at least N134billion – with a land mass of 2400 square mile, it means for the period of twelve months, Abia state government earns N55.6m per square mile of Abia state. Imo State, at a land mass of 2140 square miles, equates to N76.8m per square mile of Imo State. Enugu State, at a land mass of 5100 square miles, equates to N30.3m per square mile of Enugu State. Anambra State, at a land mass of 1900 square miles, equates to N94.5m per square mile of Anambra State. Ebonyi State, at a land mass of 2500 square miles, equates to N47.1m per square mile of Ebonyi State.
By comparison, Anambra State collected the highest amount of money per land mass, by a considerable margin, when placed side by side against the other four South East states – translating to Anambra State having more capital available for “landed” infrastructural development than the other four South East States. Such “landed” infrastructural development in the scale of railway development for inter-community transit.
