Governors who have failed to rise to the demand of raising sufficient revenue internally should be sanctioned by the electorate
The Bill Clinton Campaign Organisation was, in 1992, credited with the phrase, “the economy, stupid.” Clinton, then governor of the small state, Arkansas, was locked in a grim battle with the incumbent President of the United States of America, George Bush. As a country in the middle of a recession, Americans who had earlier approved the performance of their President swung around and ditched him. Till date, Americans remember the role that phrase played in dethroning the President.
The situation in America then is comparable to what obtains today in Nigeria. Suddenly, the receipts from crude oil fell, and attacks by militants in the Niger Delta ensured that production too fell. The two factors largely accounted for the recession in the economy. And, being dependent on handouts from the Federation Account, many of the governors caught a sorry picture. Unable to pay salaries, contractors’ bills and service loans, they could no longer maintain their pride, and the states appeared to be at the verge of collapse or, at least as some suggested, about to be merged to shore up their viability.
Only recently, revenue due the three tiers of government improved due to increase in the price of crude ; so we are now back to business as usual. Calls over the years that the Federal Government should diversify the economy as well as restructure the country’s political system have been unheeded, thus exposing the country to shocks for as many times as there are shocks in the volatile international oil market.
Dings on the economic independence of the states as measured by the Annual States Viability Index (ASVI) developed by the influential Economic Confidential magazine that rated the 36 states according to their Internally Generated Revenues in 2017 shows that only Lagos and Ogun states were able to match allocations from the Federation Account to them. While Lagos generated 165 per cent of its allocation, Ogun remarkably raked in 107 per cent from internal sources. Ogun, before the incumbent Governor Ibikunle Amosun appeared to be as helpless as other states, an indication that a lot depends on the resourcefulness of the Chief Executive. Lagos has been consistently improving on the ability to harness the vast economic opportunities in the state.
Rivers State generated 50 per cent of the allocation from the central purse, while Edo, Kwara, Enugu and Kano generated a little over 30 per cent. Unfortunately, 17 of the states, about half, could not come up with more than 10 per cent of the received revenue, a danger signal to future economic fortunes of the various states, and, consequently, the country. The 17 states are: Gombe, Zamfara, Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Taraba, Adamawa, Osun, Ekiti, Akwa Ibom, Imo, Jigawa and Niger States. Others are Katsina, Kebbi, Borno, Yobe and Bauchi.
If Adamawa, Borno and Yobe could be excused because of the insurgency war that has ravaged them, what about Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom and Imo states that are oil producing and thus well endowed to fund additional economic activities? If Edo, Enugu and Kwara states could generate more than 30 per cent of the annual revenues to run the states, why have others failed in this direction?
In the light of the approaching general elections, we call on the opposition parties and the electorate to be vigilant and call attention to the performance of the governors. If Nigerians are truly desirous of development, the attention paid to the economy in the first term of governors seeking re-election should form the basis of the campaign in the run-up to the polls
