Akwa Ibom State has been adjudged as the most credit-worthy state in Nigeria because it has more fiscal bandwidth to borrow more due to its comparatively sustainable debt profile.
The verdict was delivered by Budgit, a Nigerian civic organisation that examines state and national budgets and applies technology for citizen engagement with a view to institutional improvement, in its State of the States Report 2024 Edition themed “Moving Healthcare Delivery from Suboptimal to optimal”
According to Budgit, Akwa Ibom came top in the state performance on Index C, scoring 0.227.
The report declared that states that score high are determined “by their debt-to-revenue ratio, and personnel cost-to-revenue ratio”.
“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 of Akwa Ibom State who has not borrowed any funds either domestic or foreign since the assumption of office, this report further validates the government’s position on prudent management of state resources for the greater good of the people.
In the same report, Budgit indicated that regarding health expenditure, the state allocated funds for purchasing health and medical equipment, construction and provision of hospitals and health centres, purchasing drugs, renovating and building new primary healthcare centres and boosting health training.
It then stated “Overall, Akwa Ibom is working towards enhancing its healthcare system having spent about N1billion on primary healthcare and medical equipment. Still, there may be opportunities to increase investment in the sector to fully meet the population’s healthcare needs”.
