Governor Umo Eno’s Administration Gets N506.5 billion Revenue in Six Months

The administration of Governor Umo Eno has received a revenue of N506.5 billion in the last six months of his administration. This, the analysis of the 2024 first to second quarter (January -June 2024) budget performance report has shown.

Analysis of the report which was published by the Akwa Ibom State Budget Office shows that the biggest bulk of the revenue came from Government Share of Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) which amounted to N374.5  billion. This was followed by the opening balance from 2023 revenue amounting to 98.09 billion. The opening balance is short of N13.34bn from the N111.43bn published in the first quarter of 2024.

The Internally Generated Revenue for the two quarters amounted to N31.74bn while the State received Aids and Grants amounting to N2.25bn.

Impressively, Governor Umo Eno has continued the fiscal year without recourse to borrowing despite having a budget approval to obtain a loan of N183.17bn for 2024.

The report further shows that within the period, the Government of Akwa Ibom State made expenditure of N166.63bn leaving a balance of N339.9bn for the third quarter of 2024 out of the N506.54bn revenue.

The report however stated that the low performance is because some MDAs are yet to make their submissions for the quarter.

Analysis of the total expenditure by administrative classification reveals some of the MDAs that fall within the category of those that are yet to make their submissions within quarter two to include; Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Aviation, Bureau of Intergovernmental and National Assembly Relation, Bureau of Technical Matters, Office of Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Power, AKS Task Force on Counterfeit and Fake Drugs and Unwholesome Processed Food, State Committee on Food and Nutrition, Akwa Ibom State Sports Council, Akwa Ibom State Liaison Office, Abuja and Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly Service Commission.

Others are Ethical and Attitudinal Re-Orientation Commission (EARCOM), Local Government Service Commission, Akwa Ibom State Agricultural Development Programme, Agricultural Loans Board, Akwa Ibom State Rice Development Project, Public Debt Management Office, Project Financial Management Unit, Akwa Ibom Property and Investment Company, Akwa Ibom Airport Development Company Limited, Akwa Ibom Urban Taxi Network Limited, Ministry of Power , AKS Rural Access Road Agency, Akwa Ibom State Centre for Alternative Dispute Resolution, Akwa Ibom State Teachers Registration Council and Akwa Ibom College of Science and Technology.

Checks revealed that some of the aforementioned MDAs are only portfolio MDAs which funds are not usually released to.

 The breakdown shows that priority was given to recurrent expenditure as it amounted to N100.48bn while capital expenditure got N66.16bn.

Further analysis of the total expenditure with the six months period by administrative classification reveals that besides the Ministry of Works and Fire Service which is responsible for road projects enjoying a total release of N38 billion, office of the Accountant General, SSG’s Office, Ministry of Education and Governor’s Office stood out as top five spenders.

The Accountant General’s Office which also takes care of debt servicing among other government liabilities had a release of N34.16bn followed by the Office of the Secretary to the State Government which had N17.81bn.

Impressively, the Ministry of Education after several fiscal years earned a spot among the top spenders in Akwa Ibom State having enjoyed a total release of N16.64bn. This was followed by the Office of the Governor with N13.46bn.

Analysis of the report in the lense of capital project reveals that in the last six months, the top five chunk of funds for projects went to the Ministry of Works- N37.01bn followed by the Office of the SSG with N12.87bn while Ministry of Special Duties got N4.5bn, curiously Akwa Ibom State Budget Office which is not mandated with project execution got  N3.07bn and N2.67bn for Governor’s Office.

Impressively, within the period, the State Government reported to have paid pension and gratuity amounting to N12.39bn.

In the face of security challenges within the State in recent times, the report shows that the State Government had expended huge sums to address the issues. The report shows that within the period, the State Government spent N7.06bn on Security services while N2.24bn went to security vote totalling N9.3 billion on security expenses.