The Nigeria Extractive Industries and Transparency Initiative (NEITI) audit report shows that Akwa Ibom State spent a total of NGN947 billion out of NGN1,515 billion of her total revenue on capital expenditure for a period of five years i.e. 2012 – 2016. This accounts for 63% of the total revenue accrued to the state within the specified period.
In spite of its above-average reliance of Mineral Revenue (MR) which is 58% of its revenue, it seems to be on the right path towards revenue sufficiency with its expenditure pattern as revealed by the Fiscal Allocation and Statutory Disbursement (FASD) of the Federal Government from 2012-2016.
Akwa Ibom State
Akwa Ibom State was created on 23 September 1987 by the military government of General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida to bring to an end prolonged struggle by the people that occupied the mainland part of the former Cross River State.
Akwa Ibom currently covers a total land area of 7,249km2. The area does not take into consideration disputed territories. It is the 10th largest State in Nigeria in terms of landmass and about 13.4 percent of the 960km of Nigeria’s Atlantic Ocean coastline runs through the State.
With the annual growth rate of the population projected at 3.4 percent, the 2016 projected population was estimated at 5,451,277 persons.
Revenue Allocation
The state received a total of NGN1,515,204 million within the period under review as revealed in the NEITI report. The break down is given below:
It could be seen that the total revenue increased in 2013 before falling gradually all through the years till 2016.
Expenditure Patterns
The NEITI review asserts that “Akwa Ibom State is the most prudent, with its recurrent expenditure profile only 25%, 31% 47%, 57% and 52% respectively of its total revenue from 2012 to 2016 respectively”
The NEITI review duly highlights its expenditure, and details are shown below:
There was a consistent fall in the amount of revenue the state had committed to capital investment as seen in the chart below. Despite this fall, on average, 63% of its revenue was committed to capital projects for the period under review, as revealed by the FASD report.
Its capital projects are pronounced in the area of education, commerce, solid mineral deposits and agriculture amongst others.
Its capital investment has definitely yielded positive returns to the state as the FASD review affirmed that “Akwa Ibom State’s economy, which is the 8th largest in Nigeria, is dominated by Oil & gas and cash crop production which jointly account for 90% of its Gross State Product (GSP)”.
Consolidating on Akwa Ibom’s Fiscal Records
In the quest to improve its revenue pool and reduce its over-reliance on MR, NEITI recommended that the state should re-evaluate their revenue profile with articulated and strategic plan to exploit their full internal economic potentials. The intent of this is to ensure balance in the state’s social and economic development.
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