Ceejay Ojong|31 October 2018
There has been much back and forth arguments and postulations within the State about the actual level of indebtedness of Cross River State over time. In the run of all these no one has been able to confront us with coherent official data on the true level of indebtedness.
That our State faces some level of financial fragility and fiscal sustainability issues can hardly be doubted.
This has become a real and present challenge for good and effective governance. Innovative financial engineering, fiscal sustainability, public financial management reforms, creative revenue generation strategies, contributory pension scheme to sort pension liabilities, improving the ease of doing business and ramping up SME funding and activities are all therefore simultaneously required to move the State forward and put us on the path of inclusive growth and sustainable development.
But we have to start from first principles by having a clear understanding of how much we owe in pari with how much revenue accrues to us to be able to formulate appropriate policies and strategies to get us out of the economic woods.
On the bright side, it must be noted that the natural resource endowments of Cross River State are enormous and the potential for increased revenue generation and improving livelihoods and the quality of life are almost boundless!
From data on sub-national (States) domestic debts published on 13th September 2018 and sub-national (States) external debts published on 28th August 2018 by the Debt Management Office (DMO) – the Federal agency saddled with the responsibility of managing Nigeria's domestic and external debts, Cross River State indebtedness is as follows:
Domestic debts: N124,943,613,082.61
(One Hundred & Twenty Four Billion, Nine Hundred & Forty-Three Million, Six Hundred & Thirteen Thousand, Eighty-Two Naira, Sixty-one kobo).
Cross River State shows up as the 6th most indebted State on domestic debts after: Lagos, Delta, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, and Osun States, respectively.
External Debts: USD 193,796,061.81
(One Hundred & Ninety-Three Million, Seven Hundred & Ninety-Six Thousand, Sixty-One US Dollars, Eighty-One Cents).
The external Debts are made up of:
Multilateral Debts – USD 149,896,061.81
Bilateral Debts (AFD) – USD 43,900,000.00.
There is usually no defaults on especially multilateral debts – debts from international development institutions such as the World Bank and African Development Bank (AfDB). Bilateral debts are country to country debts that cannot also entertain non-debt service on due dates.
By external debts also, Cross River State is the 4th most indebted State after Lagos, Edo and Kaduna States, respectively.
On the revenues side, data from the National Bureau of Statistics on FAAC (Federation Accounts Allocation Committee) publications indicate that Cross River State:
Internally Generated Revenues as at March 2018 stood at: N18,104,562,225.62. This was an improvement of 22.52% over the corresponding previous year figure of N14,776,808,331.83
FAAC disbursements to Cross River State have on the average hovered around the band of figures as indicated in the following March 2018 disbursement data.
State Government:
TOTAL GROSS AMOUNT N4,352,270,884.87 includes VAT + N4,637,538.80 from N0.654 Billion Excess Bank Charges Distribution
DEDUCTIONS
External Debt – N262,644,574.38
Contractual Obligation(ISPO) – N633,134,951.92
Other Deductions – N665,694,354.44
TOTAL NET AMOUNT RECEIVED: N3,444,159,465.33 inclusive of VAT + N 0.654Billion Excess Bank Charges Distribution.
18 LGAs
GROSS STATUTORY ALLOCATION N2,292,297,393.69
DEDUCTION N(38,551,266.10)
VALUE ADDED TAX N545,318,731.92
TOTAL ALLOCATION N2,802,133,247.08.
It is my hope that this will assist in bringing us all up to speed on the actual status of our indebtedness and revenue profile towards forging innovative strategies and out-of-the box solutions to move us forward as a State.
Viva Cross River State!
Viva Nigeria!
Cijeyu Ojong is an Economist, Chartered Accountant, Licensed International Financial Analyst, Public Financial Management expert and International Development Consultant. He is also the Social Democratic Party (SDP) Candidate for House of Representatives: Ikom/Boki Federal Constituency, National Assembly: 2019 General Elections. He writes from Abuja and can be contacted at: ceejayojong@yahoo.com.
