Report: Lagos, Ogun Nigeria’s Most Economically Viable States

James Sowole in Abeokuta

Apart from Lagos, Nigeria’s economic capital, Ogun State is Nigeria’s most economically viable state, a report by Economic Confidential, a subsidiary of PR Nigeria, has shown.

Pointing to Ogun State’s status as Nigeria’s topmost investment destination after Lagos, the report showed that the Dapo Abiodun-led Ogun State outperformed Rivers State, which joined Lagos and Ogun on the list of economically viable states for the year 2022, along with Kaduna, Kwara, Oyo and Edo states.

The report compiled from figures released by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) showed that while Lagos received the sum of N370.9 billion from the Federation Account and generated N651 billion as Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), Ogun on the other hand, received N113.4 billion from the Federation Account and generated N120.5 billion internally.

On the other hand, Rivers State received N363.4 billion from the Federation Account and generated N172 billion while Kaduna received N155 billion and generated N58 billion.

Also, Kwara received N99 billion and generated N35.7 billion; Oyo received N181 billion and generated N62 billion, while Edo received N147 billion in federal allocation and generated N47.4 billion.

The results were made known during the presentation of the 2022 Annual States Viability Index Report in Abuja, showing that the total IGR of N1.5 trillion from the seven most viable states in 2022, was almost twice the total IGR of 29 states together that merely generated about N650 billion.

Six states, however, including Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, and Katsina states, failed to generate up to 10 per cent of the total allocations received from the federal government in 2022 and were declared insolvent states.

The six states that may not survive without the Federation Account due to their extremely poor internal revenue generation of less than 10 per cent compared to their federal allocations are: Bayelsa, Katsina and Akwa Ibom.  However, Bayelsa was bottom of the list with N273 billion federal allocation and only N15.9 billion IGR, representing 5.81 per cent of the allocations.

Kebbi state with N119 billion FAAC allocation and N9 billion IGR (7.67 per cent) joined Katsina (N165 billion FAAC allocation and N13bn IGR, (7.90 per cent) on the list of economically unviable states.

It came along with Akwa Ibom, which received N360 billion and generated N34.8 billion (9.66 per cent); Taraba, which received N103 billion and generated N10.2 billion (9.91 per cent); and Yobe, which received N105 billion and generated N10.4bn (9.91 per cent).

The poorly performing states were unable to attract investments due to socio-political and economic crises, including insurgency, kidnapping, armed banditry, and herdsmen-farmers clashes, the report said.