Ugwuanyi’s Fiscal Discipline Births Development in Enugu State

a strong and efficient government given to fiscal discipline will achieve so much

Nigeria is consistently waging a war against public corruption and financial indiscipline in government. Across the nation, both on the state and federal levels, news of financial mismanagement and plundering of government resources continually rent our media space.

Hence, it is truly delightful to find a government in southeastern Nigeria that is yet unravaged by the spirit of wastage and non-transparency that bedevils governments in the country.

Governor Ugwuanyi’s commitment to running a transparent and accountable government has earned him respect across all quarters in Enugu State. For a government that is people-centred and development-driven, it is only expected that due diligence is given to upholding fiscal probity and discipline.

The Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi Administration started at the height of an economic recession in Nigeria. Nonetheless, its financial administrative prudence has earmarked Enugu State as progressive amongst other southeastern states in Nigeria.

Enugu State is not an oil-producing state and therefore falls amongst the least favored in Federal allocations. Hence, the heavy reliance of the state on Federal allocation over the years has stunted its ability to undertake trail-blazing development. The Sullivan Chime Administration came to terms with the fact that its weak and narrow revenue base constituted a hindrance to effective governance and rapid development of the state. Thus, it came up with a development plan that embodied its vision to become one of the four most economically developed and self-sufficient states in Nigeria by 2020. Through the Medium Term Implementation Plan of 2010–2013, and the revised policy road map of 2012–2015, the state government planned to improve internally generated revenue by at least 50 percent, amongst other plans. The strategies aimed at reducing the state’s dependence on Federation allocation by strengthening the collection and management of internally generated revenue.

It is common knowledge that for society to experience sustainable development over the decades, its government must embrace continuity. A situation whereby an incoming government discards the plans and healthy policies of the previous administrations only shoot sustainable development in the foot.

The Ugwuanyi administration has demonstrated the political will and commitment to not only uphold the continuity of those plans but to bring them to reality. Data from the office of Enugu State Accountant General on the state government’s revenue inflow indicate a steady increase in internally generated revenue with an annual average growth rate of 11% since 2015. This growth did not drop from the sky. Various measures aimed at reforming the State Internal Revenue Service were implemented. These measures include the early adoption of the Treasury Single Account payment, direct bank lodgment system, restructuring and strengthening of the revenue agency, automation of all revenue-generating MDAs and intense taxpayers’ enlightenment programs.

These measures strengthened operational efficiency, plugged avenues of revenue leakage and ensured effective collection and accounting for taxes, levies and rates accruable to the State. This ultimately led to a high leap in Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) over the years.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, Enugu State has recorded an increase in IGR from about N14 billion in 2016 to N31 billion in 2019. 31billion in 2019 amounts to the highest internally generated revenue in the history of the state. In the 2019 budget, the government’s revenue was projected at 93.6billion, and the actual revenues collected within the period amounted to an impressive 66.6 billion, representing 73% of the budgeted total revenue. This shows that the administration is quite detailed, realistic and disciplined in its budget planning and implementation.

According to the Annual States Viability Index released by Economic Confidential, only six states in the federation are economically viable and can probably survive without monthly disbursement from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC). These states include Lagos, Ogun, Rivers, Kwara, Kaduna and Enugu. Enugu State generated N31 billion internally which represents 29% of her federal allocation of N103 billion.

Currently, the international oil market is experiencing a myriad of instability and oil price has continued to fluctuate. This is a problem for the federal government because the bulk of the federal government’s revenue comes from the sale of crude oil. This is indeed a period where the financial complacency of state governments is revealed.

In these trying times, we know those state governments that are lazy and incapable of sustainable development within the state without handouts from the federal government’s oily pockets. In these very times, the Ugwuanyi Administration’s financial dexterity is without contention, and the Enugu people can trust their government to not take her feet off the throttle on infrastructural development.

On infrastructural development, over the past five years since the inception of this administration, the government has demonstrated a strong commitment to the development of almost all sectors within the state economy.

The Governor’s particular affinity for the development of critical road infrastructure will catch the fancy of anyone who pays close attention. This is in line with the government’s rural development agenda to link up all the rural and urban communities of the State to ease movement of goods and people. Consequently, over 350km of the road has been completed while work is ongoing on other roads. A couple of these projects include;

• The 18.5km Opi-Obollo Afor road and the 5.5km rehabilitation of Colliery/Leck avenues, Enugu.
• The Nike Lake Junction that connects Harmony Estate to Amorji Nike and Adoration Centre, through Orie Emene Road. (13km)
• The Milliken Hill road, Ngwo, which now serves as an alternative gateway into the city of Enugu, from Onitsha-Enugu Expressway.
• The 8.8km road, which was reconstructed for the people of Eha Amufu in Isi-Uzo L.G.A. This road now serves as a gateway to the North through Obollo-Afor and also connects Ebonyi State through Nkalagu.
• The 14-Bay Bailey bridge across Nyama river that was constructed to connect Umuogo and Umuagba Amechi Uno/Obeagu communities in Enugu South Local Government Area.
• The 11.6KM Opi-Nsukka dual carriageway, which is a promise fulfilled by the Ugwuanyi Administration to revamp the Nsukka town to compete with other University towns in attracting technology, knowledge-based businesses and other industrial support ventures. This list doesn’t even scratch the number of road projects completed by the government, nor the projects still ongoing.

Enugu state is also very much involved in the implementation of the federal government’s Rural Access and Mobility Project (RAMP); a project aimed at upgrading rural transport infrastructure through the rehabilitation of rural roads to improve access to communities. Enugu roads under this project include Egede-Awhum Road, Adani-Asaba-Igga-Ojjor Road, Abor Road, UNTH-Enugu Agu-Ndiagu-Umuaniagu-Obe-Amurri road, St. Mary Ngwo-Nsude road and some others.

More projects carried out by the administration include the rehabilitation of public buildings and construction of new ones. These include 34 customary courts, 14 high Court /Magistrate Court Buildings, 2 detached Court Registries and Customary Court of Appeal Headquarters that were newly constructed. The new headquarters of the Ministry of Justice was also rehabilitated and well equipped.

While the country was hit by the Coronavirus Pandemic, the state government’s response was robust and swift. A Multi-sectoral Rapid Response Team drawn from both local and international organizations was set up to avoid escalation of the virus within the state. The government also approved the sum of N320 million immediately to strengthen the healthcare system to effectively battle the virus.

Many state governments were shaken and even took to the public to seek assistance, but the Ugwuanyi administration in line with its pro-poor policies distributed palliatives to citizens and more especially, granted tax relief and incentive to taxpayers in the state. The government waived the payment of Personal Income Tax as well as market tax, for all traders in the major markets of the state. There was a 50% discount on all assessed Capital Gains Tax (CGT) till December 2020, a 50% discount to all Personal Income Tax Assessment issued to owners of Schools and Hotels for the year, and a 50% discount of all assessed Land Use Charge payment for the year. This is only possible with a government that has attained financial stability.

Truly, from education to public health to water supply, the banner has remained flying. We commend the Governor’s grassroots development perspective. Ugwuanyi understands that all politics and true development are local and it is impossible to drive development without the local government system active and fully functional. At the beginning of his tenure, he declared his willingness to “identify and flush out ghost workers and wastages that have hitherto weighed down the finances of Local Government Councils”, and that he has done.

The inclusion of youths in the last local government elections and the number of young Local Government chairmen further speaks to the willingness of this administration to take local development seriously.

Indeed, Enugu State has modeled over the past five years that a strong and efficient government given to fiscal discipline will achieve so much more.

However, despite the achievements recorded so far, Enugu State is still faced with a lot of challenges. It is wisdom for every administration to recognize that past accomplishments and reports of progress made should never drown awareness of the fact that more work abounds to be done.

Enugu State today is still largely public sector driven with a relatively low industrial base. The state has made laudable progress in infrastructural development, but more still has to be done to support the transformation of the State from the public to private sector driven economy.

The government understands this and continues to intensify efforts to provide a better enabling environment for investors to come in, to tackle the challenge of unemployment. State governments across the federation can take a cue from the fiscal discipline of the Ugwuanyi administration.

Originally published at http://discoverenugu042.wordpress.com on September 30, 2020.