An analysis of three selected sectors – education, health, and agriculture – shows that Gombe performed better than other states in the North-East region in the 2022 budget performance.
The state had a 69.82 percent performance with regard to the implementation of its education budget by the end of the third quarter of 2022 – the highest in the region. Its 61.86 percent performance in the health sector topped other states in the region. Though the state was not the highest in agriculture, its 18.51 percent performance was among the top three in the region.
However, Borno State allocated more funds to these sectors in the region. The first three quarters of Borno State budget for education was N34.49 billion, but N18.89 billion went to health while N7.82 billion was alloted to agriculture.
Bauchi State awarded N18.43 billion to education, N16.93 billion to health and N4.09 billion to agriculture for the first three quarters.
In Taraba State, N15.03 billion was budgeted for education for the first three quarters. However, N10.2 billion went to health and N5.44 billon to agriculture.
The education sector in Gombe State received N6.33 billion as its first three quarters pro rata budget for 2022, N10.52 billion for health, and N7.82 billion for agriculture.
With its budget implementation report (BIR) for just the first quarter of 2022, Adamawa State budgeted N.27 billion for education, N3.04 billion for health, and N683.57 million for agriculture.
Similarly, Yobe State Q1 budget for education was N7.25 billion, N4.73 billion for health, and N2.06 billion for agriculture.
Health Sector
Borno State had the highest budget for the health sector in the region. The state budgeted N18.89 billion for its health expenditure. By the end of the third quarter of 2022, N8.32 billion had been spent in the state on health.
Bauchi State budgeted N16.93 billion for its health expenditure. This budget was for the first three quarters of 2022. By the end of the period, the state had spent N10.8 billion on health expenditure.
On the other hand, In Gombe State, N8.67 billion was spent in the first three quarters of 2022 out of the N10.52 billion budgeted.
Also, Taraba State spent N4.27 billion from a budget of N10.2 billion in the first three quarters of 2022.
The health budget for Adamawa State was N3.04 billion, but the state spent N1.38 billion. Yobe State budgeted and spent N4.73 billion and N2.88 billion respectively.
Though Borno State had the highest budget for health in the region, Gombe State recorded the best performance by the end of the period. Gombe State spent 82.48 percent of its health budget by the end of Q3 2022.
Adamawa State recorded a 45.46 percent in terms of health performance. This was 63.79 percent in Bauchi, 44.02 percent in Borno, 41.83 percent in Taraba, and 60.99 percent in Yobe.
All the states in the region spent less than 50 percent of its health budget on capital expenditure. Bauchi State is the highest, with 47 percent of its N10.8 billion health expenditure going to capital.
Borno State spent 46 percent of its N8.32 billion health budget on capital projects, while Gombe State spent 44 percent of the N8.67 billion budgeted.
In Adamawa State, 32 percent of the health expenditure was spent on capital projects, whereas Yobe State spent 38 percent of its N2.88 billion on capital items.
Taraba State spent the least of its health expenditure on capital items. The state spent 4 percent of N4.27 billion on capital expenditure.
Education Sector
Also, in the education sector, Borno State budgeted the highest amount in the region. The state approved a budget of N34.49 billion for the education sector in the first three quarters of 2022. By the end of the period, the state had spent N10.12 billion of the budget.
Bauchi State budgeted N18.43 billion for education but spent N13.14 billion by the end of Q3 2022.
In Taraba State, the education sector got N15.03 billion as the approved budget for the first three quarters of 2022. By the end of the period, N10.23 billion had been spent on the state’s education sector.
Adamawa State had an education budget of N8.27 billion but spent N3.29 billion. The education budget in Yobe State was N7.25 billion, while it spent N3.39 billion on the sector.
Gombe State budgeted N6.33 billion for education, spending N5.9 billion on the sector.
This therefore means that by the end of the third quarter, Gombe State had recorded the best education sector’s budget performance of 93.09 percent.
In Adamawa State, the education sector’s performance was 39.83 percent, whereas Bauchi recorded 71.28 percent implementation performance.
Borno State’s education sector had a 29.33 percent expenditure performance rate. Taraba and Yobe states’ educational sectors recorded 68.05 percent and 46.77 per cent performances respectively.
An analysis of the actual spending shows that Gombe State spent 40 percent of its education expenditure on capital items, the highest in the region.
A further analysis shows that 35 percent of the total N13.13 billion education expenditure in Bauchi State went to capital projects. It was 28 percent in Borno State, 13 percent in Taraba State, and 9 percent in Yobe State.
Adamawa State did not make any capital expenditure on education as all its spending went to recurrent expenditure.
Agricultural Sector
Borno and Gombe states approved a similar budget for the agriculture sector for the first three quarters of 2022. The states budgeted N7.82 billion but spent N1.93 billion.
They jointly approved the highest budget for the agriculture sector in the region.
In Taraba State, N5.44 billion was approved for agriculture, but N2.56 billion was actually spent.
Bauchi State spent N1.6 billion out of the N4.09 billion budgeted for agriculture in the first three quarters of 2022.
Yobe State approved N2.06 billion for agriculture but spent N1.07 billion. In Adamawa State, N683.57 million was approved but N121.14 million was spent.
Based on performance, the Yobe agriculture budget performed better at 52.09 percent.
In Adamawa State, the sector recorded a 14.94 percent performance, while Bauchi State had 38.96 percent implementation.
Borno and Gombe states both recorded a 24.68 percent performance at the end of the third quarter of 2022, while Taraba State’s was 46.95 percent
More than 50 percent of the agriculture expenditure of three states went to capital projects. Borno State spent 66 percent of its agricultural budget on capital projects. Gombe and Yobe states spent 74 percent and 60 percent respectively.
Bauchi State spent 19 percent of its agricultural budget on capital items, whereas Taraba State spent 35 percent.
Adamawa State, however, spent nothing on capital expenditure for the period, as all its expenditure went to recurrent expenditure.