Data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows that some states depend on FAAC for over 80 percent of their revenue.
All these are geared towards boosting the state’s revenue beyond FAAC, and data from the NBS affirms that the move is yielding fruit. For instance, the NBS Unemployment and Underemployment report for the third quarter of 2020 showed that Anambra had the lowest unemployment rate among the 36 states of the federation and the FCT. This is a remarkable development going by Nigeria’s frightening unemployment rate in the past six years which rose from 6.4 per cent in 2014 to 33.3 per cent in Q4 2020.
Further glimpse into the statistics bureau’s data revealed that Anambra grew its internally generated revenue by 61.3 percent within five years covering 2016 to 2020. According to NBS, the state’s IGR of N17.3 billion in 2016 rose to N23.6 billion in 2017, but dropped to N19.3 billion in 2028, apparently due to the recession of 2016/2017. The IGR recorded over N7 billion jump to hit N26.3 billion in 2019 before peaking at N28 billion in 2020.
“The low level of tax awareness in the state was responsible for poor compliance in tax payment among the citizenry,” said Mrs Sylvia Tochukwu-Ngige, a deputy director in the AIRS and TEET leader. The Team educates the people down to the hamlet level and ensures they fully understand tax as a civic duty. To ensure transparency and accountability, co-ordinators are appointed at all levels who issue/collect receipts for payments. The target is to reach the informal sector.