An analysis of the 2022 budget performances of North-East states shows that the agricultural sector fared poorly across the region.
All the seven states that make up the region implemented less than 39 per cent of their budget for agriculture. The highest was Kebbi with 38.45 percent while Jigawa had the lowest with a 12.49 percent performance by the end of the third quarter of 2022.
Jigawa spent N896.17 million of its pro rata N7.15 billion for the first three quarters, while Kebbi State expended N3.12 billion of the N8.12 billion earmarked for the sector in the first three quarters.
Katsina State spent 31.68 percent of its agriculture pro rata budget, while Kano’s was 25.18 percent.
Zamfara State recorded a 34.13 percent performance by the end of the second quarter. Other states with budget implementation reports (BIR) for just the first two quarters were Sokoto with 25.84 percent and Kaduna with 24.11 percent performance.
The health sector had the best overall performance in the states under review as its least state recorded 41.95 percent performance compared to the education sector’s 25.84 per cent.
Health sector
Across the states in the region, Katsina State had the highest amount allocated to the health sector. The state budgeted N29.97 billion for the sector but spent N19.57 billion of the sum by the end of the period.
Zamafara State had the least, with N5.6 billion budgeted and N2.35 billion spent.
Similarly, Jigawa State budgeted N25.17 billion but spent N12.82 billion, whereas Kaduna approved N19.27 billion but spent N16.66 billion. In Kano State, N12.83 billion was spent from a budget of N25.48 billion.
Kebbi State had a health budget of N12.99 billion but spent N5.64 billion by the end of Q3 2022. Sokoto State spent N9.95 billion of its N14.81 billion health budget.
Health budget performances in the states show that Jigawa State had a 50.93 percent performance, Kaduna State’s was 86.42 per cent, while Kano State’s amounted to 50.34 per cent. Katsina had 65.30 percent performance. There were 43.39 percent performance for Kebbi State, 67.18 percent in Sokoto State, and 41.95 percent in Zamfara.
Only Katsina and Kaduna spent most of their health expenditures on capital projects.
In Katsina Stata, 70 percent of the health expenditure went to capital items, while 64 percent was spent on capital projcts in Kaduna State.
The other states spent most of their health budgets on recurrent expenditure, with capital spending taking less than 50 per cent of the total health expenditure.
In Jigawa State, 39 percent of the health expenditure went to capital items, whereas 29 percent was alloted to capital projcts in Kebbi State by the end of Q3 2022.
Sokoto State spent 42 percent of its health budget on capital projects but only 4 percent went to capital items in Kano State. Zamfara State spent all of its health expenditure on recurrent expenditure.
Education sector
Jigawa State approved the highest amount to the education sector across the region. The state budgeted N45.17 billion for education. By the end of the third quarter, it had already spent N36.81 billion of that amount, signifying a 81.50 percent performance.
Kano State had the second highest budget for education. The state approved N41.53 billion but spent N32.89 billion. The shows that Kano State spent 79.20 percent of its education budget – the best performance in the region.
Kaduna State budgeted N33.2 billion for education but spent N19.85 billion. This reflects a 59.78 percent performance. Katsina State had a performance of 50.40 percent in the education sector. The state budgeted N36.62 billion but spent N18.46 billion.
In Kebbi State, N28.84 billion was budgeted but N12.56 billion was spent on education. This represented a 43.66 percent performance for the state.
Sokoto State, with the least budget for education, had the least performance of 25.84 percent. The state budgeted N6.81 billion but spent N1.76 billion.
Zamfara budgeted N8.49 billion for health expenditure. It recorded 34.73 percent performance after spending N2.95 billion.
Across the region, all the states except Zamfara committed a proportion of their education budget to capital expenditure in varying proportions.
This ranges from 82 percent in Sokoto to four percent in Kano State. Zamfara State, however, had a 0 percent capital expenditure performance.
Jigawa spent 29 percent on capital expenditure, but this was 48 percent in Kaduna, 35 percent in Katsina, and 40 percent in Kebbi.
Agricultural sector
The agricultural sector didn’t only receive the least amount of the three sectors reviewed, it also performed poorly across the states. An analysis of the sector’s performance in the states revealed a 12.49 percent performance in Jigawa State, 24.11 percent in Kaduna, 25.18 percent in Kano, and 31.68 percent in Katsina.
Kebbi State had a 38.45 percent performance, but this was 25.84 percent in Sokoto, and 34.13 percent in Zamfara State.
Katsina State had the highest budget for the agriculture sector in the region. The state budgeted N16.17 billion but spent N5.12 billion.
Kaduna State approved the least budget for the agriculture sector. The amount approved by the state for the sector was N1.56 billion, but the state spent N375.65 million.
Of the three sectors reviewed, agriculture was the only sector where Zamfara State made some capital expenditure. And the state spent 52 percent of its agriculture budget on capital projects.
However, Kano State didn’t make any capital expenditure on agriculture in the period. The state spent all its agriculture expenditure on recurrent items in the state.
Overall, four states within the region spent over 50 percent of their agriculture budgets on capital items. The breakdown shows that Katsina State spent 87 percent, Kebbi spent 83 percent, Sokoto spent 82 percent while Zamfara expended 52 per cent.
Jigawa and Kaduna states spent 26 percent and 7 percent, respectively.
Overall, the agricultural sector had the best performance in the region as 65.31 percent of its capital expenditure was implemented. However, it was 27.89 percent for education and 44.61 percent for health.