The N1.3trn Cross River 2018 budget has been described by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, NEITI, in the latest edition of the NEITI Quarterly Review as a budget that “is not executable.”
The disclosure made in NEITI’s first quarter review of the N1.938 trillion Federation Account Allocation shared between the three tiers of government in the first quarter, maintained that the state’s 2018 budget with only 4% projected revenue is not executable. While it described the CRS budget situation as being “chronic”, it warned that the state’s revenue capacity must be clearly considered in carrying out expenditure decisions in the state.
If CRS refuses to heed to this advice, NEITI warns that she and other states in this situation “… will either not be able to execute their budgets or have to increase borrowing.”
A breakdown of the FAAC allocations show that the Federal Government received N812.8 billion, the 36 states got N683.4 billion, while N393.3 billion went to the 774 Local Governments.
N655.2 billion was disbursed by FAAC in January, N635.6 billion in February, and N647.4 billion in March this year. Osun, Cross River, Ekiti, Zamfara and Ogun States received below N10 billion.
Nigeria’s Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) is mandated by law to promote transparency and accountability in the management of Nigeria’s oil, gas and mining revenues.
