It is projected that a minimum of 24 states in the federation may face challenges in meeting salary obligations for their employees this year without relying on federal allocations provided by the central government.
According to a review of the approved budgets for the 2024 fiscal year, only 11 out of the 36 state governments in the federation have the ability to pay their workers’ salaries without relying on federal allocations.
The states that have strong internal revenue include Lagos, Kano, Anambra, Edo, Enugu, Imo, Kaduna, Kwara, Osun, Ogun, and Zamfara.
The authorized budget allocations are additionally available on Open States, an online platform supported by BudgIT which functions as an archive of governmental financial planning information.
Although the budgets of 35 states have been publicly disclosed, the budget of Rivers State remains inaccessible and has not been uploaded to the platform yet.
Based on the analysis of budget data, it is observed that 24 states are unable to cover salary payments using their Internally-Generated Revenue. Consequently, these states may need to depend on allocations from the Federal Government or seek loans from banks and other financial institutions.
The development has led to a situation where the wages in those states have exceeded their internal revenue generation, causing worries about employee productivity and the effectiveness of state governments in generating revenue.
The following 24 states are included in the list: Bayelsa, Ondo, Yobe, Sokoto, Taraba, Plateau, Oyo, Niger, Nasarawa, Kogi, Kebbi, Katsina, Jigawa, Gombe, Ekiti, Ebonyi, Borno, Benue, Bauchi, Adamawa, Akwa-Ibom, Cross River, Abia and Delta.
