Internally generated revenue (IGR) in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory rose to N579.49billion in the first half of the year, from N453.83bn recorded in the corresponding half of 2017, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in a statement released yesterday.
Cyril Ede, the President and Chairman of Council of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN) said there is an improvement in Nigeria’s tax payment system, as more Nigerians are beginning to pay their taxes.
“There is improvement in tax compliance, because more people are getting to pay their tax and this is increasing the states’ IGR,” he said.
Meanwhile, a breakdown of the NBS report shows that the net Federal Account Allocation (FAAC) in the first half of the year stood at N1.23 trillion while the total revenue available to the states was put at N1.74 trillion.
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Analysis of the half year IGR report by the nation’s bureau revealed that N280.8 billion was generated by the states and FCT for the first quarter of 2018 while the remaining N263.3 billion was generated in the second quarter of the year under review.
Meanwhile, Lagos, Delta, Oyo and Kaduna states among others reported a consistent increase in their IGR figures in the last three years.
Lagos state generated internal revenue of N333.9 billion in 2017, which is higher than the N302 billion recorded in the previous year and also bigger than the N268.2 billion the centre of excellence generated in 2015.
Delta state generated N40.8 billion in 2015 while in 2016 and 2017 it reported N44 billion and N51.8 billion respectively.
Oyo and Kaduna states also followed in line with three years of consecutive revenue growth. The former generated N15.66 billion, N18.8billion and N22.4 billion in 2015, 2016 and 2017, respectively while the latter generated N11.5 billion in 2015, N23 billion and N26.5 billion in 2016 and 2017 respectively.
Enugu state also made progress in its IGR figures, as the coal city state reported 54.6 percent increase from N14.23 billion in 2016 to N22 billion in 2017.
Akwa Ibom saw a decline in the amount it was able to generate internally, from N23.2 billion in 2016 to N15.9 billion in 2017 while Bauchi state also dropped in its IGR figures by 50 percent from N8.6 billion in 2016 to N4.3 billion in 2017.
The figures for Lagos State show that PAYE revenue of N190 billion accounted for 62 percent of the N302 billion total revenue generated for the six months, according to BusinessDay calculations.
The same calculation for Cross River, Kano and Ogun states, showed 84 percent, 33 percent and 33 percent, respectively.
Endurance Okafor
