Ekiti States recorded the best performance in the Southwest region in the implementation of budgets for health, education, and agriculture by the end of the third quarter of 2022, a Dataphyte analysis has revealed.
The analysis of selected sectoral budget performance from the Budget Implementation Reports (BIR) of Nigeria’s Budget Office shows that at the end of third quarter (Q3), Ekiti State had a 105.87 per cent budget performance in health, spending N5.06 billion from a budget of N4.76 billion.
The state spent N16.26 billion on education having budgeted N14.79, showing a 109.98 per cent performance and in agriculture, N1.26 billion was spent from a budget of N1.65 billion, which is a 76.13 per cent performance.
Of the three selected sectors, the state spent more on education.
Ekiti, Ondo, and Oyo state whose BIR was ready as at the Q3, spent N80.39 in total on education compared to the N31.48 spent on health and N17.64 spent on agriculture.
In Lagos and Osun states whose BIR was for just the first two quarters, the states spent N90.76 billion on education compared to N71.97 on health and N14.41 on agriculture.
Health Sector
Overall performance shows that Ekiti State had a 105.87 per cent performance for the period.
At the end of Q3, Ekiti State was the only state in the region that spent more than its budget on health. The state budgeted N4.76 billion on health expenditures for the first three quarters and spent N5.04 billion by the end of September 2022.
Lagos State’s allocation for the first two quarters represented the highest amount budgeted and spent in the sector. The state budgeted N63.85 billion for health expenditures and spent N43.69 billion of this budget, a 68.43 per cent performance.
Ondo State budgeted N13.66 billion and spent N10.51 billion on health in the first three quarters of 2022. This represents a 76.95 per cent performance in the states.
In Osun (Q2) and Oyo (Q3), N8.13 billion and N13.07 billion were budgeted for the health sector, respectively. The states spent N5.29 billion and N8.7 billion, respectively, showing a 65.14 per cent and 66.59 per cent performance.
Expenditure by category analysis shows that the states in the region spent more on recurrent expenditure than capital expenditure. Dataphyte’s analysis revealed that the states in the region spent less than 20 per cent of its expenditure on capital items.
The region’s highest spenders on capital expenditure are Lagos State, with 20 per cent of expenditure on capital items; Osun State, 16 per cent; and Oyo State, 13 per cent.
Ekiti and Ondo states both spent 98 per cent of their expenditure on recurrent, with about 2 per cent only on capital expenditure.
Education Sector
Ekiti State had a 109.98 per cent budget performance in the education section, the best in the region. The state budgeted N14.79 billion for the first three quarters and spent N16.26 billion.
Lagos State’s budget for education was N77.46 billion, and it spent N59.06 billion by the end of Q2 2022, a 76.26 per cent performance.
Ondo State budgeted N26.06 billion to be spent by the end of the third quarter of 2022. As at the end of September 2022, the state had spent N20.79 billion of the budget, showing a 79.79 per cent performance.
Osun State had a 74.48 per cent performance having spent N9.91 billion of the budgeted N13.31 billion by the end of Q2 2022. At the end of Q3 2022, Oyo State spent N31.4 billion of N39.56 billion, performing at 79.38 per cent.
However, details of the implementation show that only Osun State was able to spend 30 per cent of its education budget on capital items. Lagos State spent 15 per cent of its expenditure on capital items, and Ondo and Ekiti state spent 9 per cent each. Oyo State had the least 6 per cent capital items.
Agricultural Sector
The agricultural sector had the least allocation and recorded the poorest performance in the region.
The highest performance recorded in this sector was in Ekiti State. While the state recorded over 100 per cent performance in the health and education sector, it had a 76.13 per cent in the agricultural sector by the end of Q3 2022.
Lagos (Q2) and Ondo (Q3) recorded 50.34 per cent and 51.34 per cent performance, while 17.57 per cent was what was recorded in Osun State (Q2). In Oyo State, it spent just 18.16 per cent of its agriculture budget by the end of the third quarter of 2022.
Ekiti budgeted and spent N1.65 billion and N1.26 billion, respectively. Lagos State allocated N11.03 billion to agriculture and spent N5.55 billion.
In Ondo State, N6.48 billion was allocated to agriculture, and N3.33 billion was spent. Osun State budgeted N3.37 billion and spent N0.59 billion. Oyo State allocated N9.52 billion and spent N1.73 billion.
However, an analysis of the spending shows that only Oyo State in the region spent more on capital items. The state spent 75 per cent of its N1.73 billion on capital expenditure.
In Osun and Ekiti states, 45 per cent of their agricultural expenditure was spent on capital expenditure. In Ondo State, 19 per cent of its agricultural expenditure was spent on capital expenditure, and 11 per cent was spent in Lagos State on capital expenditure.