Akwa Ibom has been adjudged the most credit-worthy state in Nigeria for its fiscal bandwidth to borrow more than any other state due to its comparatively sustainable debt profile.
A Nigerian civic organisation that examines states’ and national budgets and applies technology for citizen engagement with a view at institutional improvement, Budgit, stated this in its State of the States Report 2024 Edition with the theme: Moving Healthcare Delivery From Suboptimal To Optimal.
Budgit said Akwa Ibom came tops in the States’ Performance on Index C, scoring 0.227. The report declared that states that scored high were determined “by their debt-to-revenue ratio, and personnel cost to revenue ratio”.
It added: “In contrast, states that rank lower on Index C need to check their appetite for the acquisition of more debt as they appear to be either above or very close to solvency for debt-to-revenue ratio, foreign debt to total debt, debt service-to-revenue ratio, and personnel cost to revenue ratio.
“The lower ranking states may need to rapidly adopt Public-Private Partnership (PPP) models in delivering public goods due to their relatively poorer credit worthiness.
“The state (Akwa Ibom), owing to its relatively low foreign debt to total debt ratio, ranked the most debt-sustainable state among the 36 states.”
For Governor Umo Eno, who has not borrowed any funds, either domestic or foreign, since assuming office, the report further validates his administration’s position on prudent management of resources for the greater good of the people.
|SituationReport|
