Tunji Adedeji
The former Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives and Candidate of the People Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2015 governorship race in Imo State ,Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha has blamed Gov. Rochas Okorocha for the aggravated worsening economic situation in the state .
Rt Hon. Ihedioha, made this disclosure recently, while addressing Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, stakeholders in Ohaji/Egbema Local Council Area of Imo State, explained that the level of poverty in the State was high because of huge indebtedness owed by the State Government.
He condemned the way and manner the Governor was running the State affairs, noting that Imo is presently owing N103 billion in Local debt and $63 billion in external debts. This excludes debts owed contractors by the State Government, as at end of 2017,” Ihedioha said
His words, “Adapalm that was the pride and money spinner in Imo State has sadly become moribund and the same is also true of Imo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission, ISOPADEC.”
The former lawmaker expressed disappointment that “there is no single project in Ohaji/Egbema Local Council Area, started and finished in the past seven years, by the Rochas Okorocha administration”.
He pointed out that Imo needs to be liberated from mis-governance and blatant lies told by the present administration. Imo has been run aground. Schools have become moribund and this is sad”, Chief Ihedioha said.
He further opined that all the monies accruing to the 27 Local Government Areas has remained unaccounted for in the past seven years.
In a related development, an economic intelligence magazine, called Economic Confidential has made a shocking discoveries about Imo state, describing the state as one of the 17 insolvent and poorest states in Nigeria, that may not survive without the Federation Account due to poor internal generated revenue.
This ugly report was contained in the latest Annual States Viability Index (ASVI) carefully and painstakingly computed by economic intelligence magazine in its recent publication.
According to the report ,” states with the poorest Internally Generated Revenue of less than 10% in the South are Imo , Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Osun, Ekiti, and Akwa-Ibom States while in the North we have Gombe, Zamfara, Taraba, Adamawa, Jigawa, Niger, Katsina, Kebbi, Borno, Yobe and Bauchi states.”
The report also reads that apart from Imo and others States whose IGR in 2017 were far below 10% of their receipt from the Federation Account Allocations (FAA) there were also States with impressive over 30% IGR apart from Lagos namely Ogun, Rivers, Edo, Kwara, Enugu and Kano States who generated N607bn in total, while the remaining States merely generated a total of N327bn in 2017.
The Economic Confidential ASVI further showed that only three states in the entire Northern region have IGR above 20%. They are Kwara, Kano, and Kaduna States. Meanwhile, ten states in the South recorded over 20% IGR in 2017. They are Lagos, Ogun, Rivers, Edo, Enugu, Delta, Cross River, Anambra, Oyo and Abia States, many States remain unviable, and cannot survive without the federally collected revenue, mostly from the oil sector.
The IGR is generated by States through Pay-As-You-Earn Tax (PAYE), Direct Assessment, Road Taxes and Revenues from Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
The report by this economic intelligence magazine further indicates that the IGR of Lagos State of N333bn is higher than that of 30 States put together whose Internally Generated Revenue are extremely low and poor compared to their allocations from the Federation Account.
