ThisDay's Newspaper Rates Performance Of Ortom, El Rufai, Yahaya Bello, Others; Read Full Details Here

This article was compiled by ThisDay Newspaper;


According to the Newspaper, this is a midterm report and performance of all Nigerian governors. Fiscal Crises Define Governors’ Midterm Report

 In-spite of revenue sources comprising FAAC allocations, internally generated revenue, and extra-statutory disbursements (federal government bailouts), the economic recession, rising unemployment and crime, mounting debts, and unmet wage and pension obligations characterised governance in most of the states. Graphics provided by BudgIT

1. Benue State

For Samuel Ortom, the last two years have been quite disappointing, fighting off incessant attacks by Hausa-Fulani herdsmen at a time he needed to urgently fulfil his inaugural promise to develop infrastructure and improve on social amenities in the state. Also on his plate was the challenge of non-payment of pensioners and workers, as well as the need to bring down the high rate of crime in the state.
Mid-way into his tenure, his stay in office has been characterised by crises that have been almost overwhelming and deterred him from tapping into the potential of Benue State as the food basket of the nation. Indeed, Ortom has been forced to admit that inadequate resources have impeded his capacity to deliver on his mandate. With monthly allocations from Abuja hovering around N2.5 billion a month, against a monthly wage bill of N3.7 billion, it is little wonder that Makurdi has remained a bundle of disappointment, earning the governor the recent unenviable sobriquet of “wheel barrow governor”.
Although insecurity and unpaid salaries remain the bane of his government, he has tried to make some headway in universal basic education. There also appears to be a silver lining in the horizon, as the enactment of the Anti-Open Grazing Bill may serve as a deterrent to marauding herdsmen that have threatened to completely displace farmers in the state.

Benue IN FIGURES
• FAAC Allocation (June 2015 – May 2016) N35.30bn
• FAAC Allocation (June 2016 – April 2017) N35.32bn 
• IGR in 2015 N7.36bn
• IGR in 2016 N9.56bn
• Total Debt Stock as Dec 31, 2016 N75.12bn

SECTORAL ASSESSMENT
• Agriculture: Limited impact in the state that should be food basket of Nigeria – Average
• Education: Basic education has given priority – Average

• Health Care: Limited impact due to paucity of funds – Poor
• Infrastructure: Limited impact due to paucity of funds, Seeking Chines loan to build cagro airport – Average
• Ease of Doing Business – Poor
• Security: Herdsmen menace, Communal crisis and kidnappings remain unchecked  – Poor

non-starter, go back to drawing board:

Kaduna State

Nasir el-Rufai came to office with a resolve to make Kaduna great again, promising to revamp education, boost healthcare, ensure security, provide basic infrastructure, and institute good governance and a responsive public service with zero tolerance for corruption. 
He set off by seeking to reduce the cost of governance and rationalised the state’s 24 ministries to 13, following up with a series of workers’ verification exercises that led to the flushing out of ghost workers and reduction of the wage bill by about N500 million monthly. 
He introduced free basic education and free feeding in primary schools. The feeding programme, which gulped N1.1 billion monthly has, however, been suspended because of paucity of funds.
He recruited over 2,200 secondary school teachers and spent N5 billion on school modernisation and renovation. Another N80 million was expended on the training of teachers.
El-Rufai is rejuvenating the health care system through a partnership with General Electric for the upgrade and equipping of 255 primary health centres and 23 secondary health centres across the state. He has equally wooed investors to set up agro-allied businesses in his state such as tomato processing factories and rice mills so that farmers in his states can have ready markets for their produce.
The governor also did not rest on his oars when the Kaduna airport was made the alternative to the Abuja airport, when the latter was closed for six weeks. He worked with the security forces to provide adequate security in the city and on all the routes exiting Kaduna. Owing to the rehabilitation of the Kaduna airport, he is wooing Ethiopian Airways to make the airport its hub in North-west Nigeria.
A major sore point for him, however, has been the violent clashes in Southern Kaduna between indigenes and Hausa-Fulani herdsmen, which has claimed thousands of lives, with the former accusing the governor of bias.
Another cause for sleepless nights is the state’s external debt stock put at $222.9 billion, making it the second highest after Lagos State. With the devaluation of the naira, el-Rufai faces the onerous task of servicing external loans that could bankrupt the state. Despite the significant improvement in internal revenue generation between 2015 and 2016, predominantly from PAYE, the governor would still need to sweat the assets in his state to more than triple his current IGR of N17 billion per annum for sustainability.

Kaduna IN FIGURES
• FAAC Allocation (June 2015 – May 2016) N45.57bn
• FAAC Allocation (June 2016 – April 2017) N42.70bn 
• IGR in 2015 N11.54bn
• IGR in 2016 N17.05bn
• Total Debt Stock as Dec 31, 2016 N131.26bn

SECTORAL ASSESSMENT
• Agriculture: Considerable emphasis on agro-allied factories – Good 
• Education: Considerable investment in education – Good
• Health Care: Considerable investment in health care – Good
• Infrastructure: Roll out of urban renewal projects in the state capital and other towns in the state – Good
• Ease of Doing Business: Restructured public sector for efficiency and hosted investment and economic summits to attract businesses to the state – Good
• Security: Cattle rustling, the Southern Kaduna killings and kidnappings are a blemish on el-Rufai’s record – Poor

clear vision, promising start:  

Kogi State
Yahaya Bello: confused and yet 
to grapple with governance
Despite the verification exercise of civil servants embarked upon by Yahaya Bello on assumption of office 17 months ago, which save Kogi State an estimated N1.5 billion monthly, the governor has not been able to pay his workers for several months. By his own admission, the state has a backlog running to 12 months. 
Last year, the governor kicked off a road construction programme to cost N10 billion in the three senatorial districts in the state. In Kogi Central District, the roads to be constructed include the 18.3 kilometre-long Agassa-Ahache-Upogoro road, Ogaminana-Ebogogo road, Itape-Eika-Kuroko road and Obehira-Ihima-Obangede road awarded at the cost of N3.819 billion.  Also to receive attention are the Iyamoye-Jege-Ife-Olukotun-Ponyan-Ejuku-Ijowa Isanlu roads and Ekirin-Ade-Ohun-Ifeolukotun roads all in Kogi West district, awarded at the cost of N4 billion. While in Kogi East district, work is to commence on the Anyigba-Umomi-Akpagidigbo-Ugwolawo-Ajaka road, Ankpa township road, Ibana-Okpo road and Ikeje-Ogugu-Ette road, awarded at the cost of 2.84 billion. Given the paucity of funds in the state, it is uncertain how many of these states he has delivered to the people in the senatorial zones.
His idea on providing food security is to declare an emergency in the agriculture. But no investments have been made by the state government or investors in the sector since Bello assumed office. He has vowed to reposition education in the state, but no investment has been made by the state government in this regard.
Kidnappings and armed robberies remain a problem in Kogi under Bello’s watch, while the state’s reputation for harbouring Boko Haram sympathisers or members is problem that has not been addressed.
Kogi IN FIGURES
• FAAC Allocation (June 2015 – May 2016) N36.72bn
• FAAC Allocation (June 2016 – April 2017) N34.89bn 
• IGR in 2015 N6.78bn
• IGR in 2016 N9.75bn
• Total Debt Stock as Dec 31, 2016 N81.12bn

SECTORAL ASSESSMENT
• Agriculture: Bello’s agriculture programme is unclear – Poor 
• Education: No clarity on investment in education – Poor
• Health Care: No clarity on investment in health care – Poor
• Infrastructure: Roll out of road projects state – Average
• Ease of Doing Business: No clarity on ease of doing business in Kogi – Poor
• Security: Kidnapping and robberies remain a security concern in Kogi – Poor

non-starter, go back to drawing board: 

4.Lagos State
Akinwunmi Ambode: a pair 
of safe and steady hands
Despite governing the fifth largest economy on the African continent, Akinwunmi Ambode assumed office amid diverse challenges. Aside the recession that held down most states of the federation, Ambode was confronted with the heinous traffic congestion, which according to the security agencies, fostered a reign of traffic robbers across the state. Although this remains a nightmare in Lagos, his continuous funding of the Nigeria Police and introduction of a neighbourhood security outfit may lead to reduction in crime in Nigeria’s commercial nerve centre, as kidnapping and robberies remain a challenge in several suburbs in the state.
Ambode has also focused on the challenges in the public service in Lagos by implementing public sector reforms under which the state’s ministries, department and agencies (MDAs) were realigned for optimal performance. Subsequently, all MDAs, which were operating from rented premises, were relocated to government buildings and facilities. The reform saved the government about N3 billion.
Next, Ambode expanded the tax net and revenue sources in Lagos, generating over N25 billion monthly in 2016 with a projection of N30 billion for this year. With more resources, he has inaugurated 114 roads across the state, which his administration constructed in partnership with 20 local government areas (LGAs) and 37 local council development areas (LCDAs). Besides, he unveiled the Abesan-Aboru Link Bridge and seven other roads, including the two flyovers at Abule-Egba and Ajah, which eliminated the traffic gridlock around the areas.
Despite the laudable efforts by Ambode, the general thinking is that he may be stretching himself thin. With a population of 12 million (2014 estimates), over-stretched facilities and rising unemployment, Lagos’ revenue profile is realistically too low to catapult the state into a modern city-state of Western or Asian standards. The attempt to kick-off the Fourth Mainland Bridge just got canned, while the state continues to struggle to complete just one line of its monorail project. 
Instructively, the devaluation of the naira has impacted on the state’s ability to deliver on some of these multi-billion naira projects and has seen its GDP drop to $91 billion. But the state still possesses considerable potential that remains untapped. Like the federal government, Lagos must pursue and implement the ease of doing business policy in the state, as the state currently ranks as one of the most difficult places to do business and live in among megacities worldwide. 
The state must also streamline and lower taxes to attract investments and create new jobs that will increase its revenue base. Several parts of the state such as Apapa are blighted and suffering from absolute neglect, effectively robbing Lagos of additional revenue. Another area of concern is the state’s environmental problem. Keeping the state and its waterways clean and free of solid waste has remained a challenge for successive administrations. Ambode has not fared better than his colleagues in this department and it’s an area he needs to address. 
A cursory glance at the state’s debt service as a percentage of revenue shows that the state can meet its obligations to local and external creditors. However, the devaluation of the naira has meant more strain on its finances in terms of servicing its foreign debt.
lagos IN FIGURES
• FAAC Allocation (June 2015 – May 2016) N92.54bn
• FAAC Allocation (June 2016 – April 2017) N93.40bn 
• IGR in 2015 N268.22bn
• IGR in 2016 N302.43bn
• Total Debt Stock as Dec 31, 2016 N732.85bn

SECTORAL ASSESSMENT
• Agriculture: Lagos has entered into a joint venture with the Kebbi State Government for rice production; it is working on similar joint projects with other states – Good 
• Education: Considerable investment in education – Good
• Health Care: Considerable investment in health care – Good
• Infrastructure: Roll out of urban renewal projects across the state – Excellent
• Ease of Doing Business: Multiplicity of taxes, traffic gridlocks, over-stretched makes Lagos a challenge to do business in – Above Average
• Security: Ambode has kept the state relatively safe, but kidnappings persist – Above Average despite some challenges

clear vision, promising start: 

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