Rivers, Kaduna, Lagos top in fiscal performance ranking

Rivers, Kaduna, Lagos, Cross River and Ebonyi states have emerged the most responsible fiscal performance states for 2022.

This was contained in a 154-page ‘State of States, 2022 edition’ released on Thursday in Abuja by BudgIT, a civic-tech organisation.

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The BudgIT’s Research and Policy Advisory lead, Mr Iniobong Usen, while presenting the report for 2022, with the theme, ‘Sustainable Governance Reforms for a New Era’, said Rivers State maintained its overall fiscal performance position, ranking first as it did in 2020 and 2021. 

Usen, who said the report assessed and ranked the fiscal performance of all the 36 states, from the most sustainable to the least sustainable, said they were ranked using five metrics. 

The report, however, ranked oil-producing Bayelsa State 36th in its 2021 fiscal performance table. 

“Bayelsa’s operating expenses and loan repayments of N146.72bn gulped 78 per cent of its total revenue in 2020.This leaves a meagre 22 per cent of its total revenue for investment in capital infrastructure and citizens,” the report stated.