Total debt of Cross-River State as at the end of 2017 was approximately N177.16bn.
External debt grew to $167.9mn in 2017, from $114.9mn in 2016.
Meaning the administration of Governor Ayade alone incurred additional $53mn external debt between 2016 and 2017.
Cross River Domestic debt also rose to N125.65bn in 2017, from N116.06bn in 2013.
Meaning the last two years of Governor Imoke and the first two years of Governor Ayade amassed additional N9.59bn Domestic debt.
On average, Domestic debt grew by 2.27% annually, between 2013 and 2017.
Internally-generated revenue (IGR) for Cross River in:
2017 was N18.10bn
2016 was N13.77bn
2015 was N13.57bn
Average monthly accrual from FAAC is N2.5bn; translating to N30bn annually, on average from the Federation Account.
Cross River has also exceeded it’s income to borrowing ratio by 436.49 percent.
Now Let’s Summarise Some Quick Facts From Those Figures.
If you take the highest IGR (2017), which is N18.10bn and add to the annual accruable income from FAAC which is N30bn average, the total revenue the State should boast of in a year is N48.10bn.
There are other unforseen sources of revenue that may not be known to the rest of us. Let us assume that will give the State additional N20bn annually. That will jerk the possible revenue of the State to N68.10bn only.
But the same State that barely earns N70bn per annum has a 2019 budget of N1.02trillion Naira.
And a 25 member House of Assembly passed the budget.
Is that not hallucination?
If it’s not, what do you call it?
In case you don’t understand, Lagos State generates N33bn IGR monthly and over N300bn annually.
Their own 40 member House of Assembly passed a budget of N874bn for 2019.
A government whose accruable annual revenue is less than N70bn is planning to construct:
1. N700bn Superhighway
2. N500bn Deep Seaport
3. N20bn Obudu Airport
4. N18bn Spaghetti Bridge
5. N31.7bn Mini Superhighway
There are others whose cost we haven’t been told:
1. Independent Power Plant
2. Calachika
3. Cocoa processing factory
4. Ogoja Rice mill
5. Calapharm
6. Air Cross River
7. Piles, Poles and Pylons factory Etc.
Before you start telling me about Intellectual Money (IM) and Other Peoples Money (OPM), remember that civil servants salaries for June 2019 haven’t been paid complete because LG allocations weren’t given to the governor for just one month; and there are indications that the allocation for the Assembly and Judiciary will also be taken out soon.
What is the magic that our governor wants to invent?
Can those who still have our governor’s ears ask him to come down from that high horse, drink some chill water, calm down and be more realistic to the realities on the table?
We all love our State and we want Cross River to create wealth and prosperity for us all. The governor should stop thinking he can achieve that by listening to his own voice alone and those of his praise singers.
He needs help to situate his remaining 1406 days on a result oriented trajectory and he should seek it NOW!
Yours Sincerely,
Citizen Agba Jalingo.