By
Jide Ajani
culled from VANGUARD, November 09, 2005
A performance rating of the 36 state governments and the Federal Capital
Territory (FCT) Abuja by National Planning Commission (NPC), and donor
agencies including the World Bank, UNDP, DFID, USAID and CIDA has ranked
Enugu State as the best performing state in the federation in terms of
policy formulation, budget and fiscal management, service delivery,
communication and transparency in Nigeria under the current democratic
dispensation.
Enugu State was followed by the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) with Osun,
Ekiti, and Ebonyi States coming third, fourth and fifth respectively.
In the first 11 category, Ondo, Lagos, Kaduna, Anambra, Cross River and
Yobe States came sixth, seventh, eight, ninth, 10th and 11th respectively.
The states willingly submitted to the assessment. Only Bayelsa State did not
submit to this independent assessment. There were three rounds of
assessment.
The NPC and the donor agencies did the assessment to identify reforming
state governments in a transparent and fair manner, using internationally
acceptable benchmarks to look into areas of developmental governance,
reforms and project implementation under the SEEDS (State Economic
Empowerment Development Strategies) programme.
The four areas agreed for the assessment of states are: policy, budget and
fiscal management, service delivery and communication and transparency.
The top 11 performers are those states which did not score any red in all the four areas o assessment. Any state which scored a red, although may have earned a high cumulative score, it dropped in final ranking. In the area of policy, the assessors, made up of independent groups with an overall consulting outfit, asked this pertinent question: "Do the state's policies address the real needs of the people? Have all key stakeholders had a chance to have their say in the policies? Are the policies widely known to the people of the state?"
For budget and fiscal management:: "Does the state manage its budget and public funds in a transparent way so that resources are directed at achieving the priorities of the state? Is there responsible and prudent fiscal management that effectively contains the negative impacts of revenue fluctuation?"
In terms of service delivery, the assessors sought to know: "What efforts
is the state making to improve service delivery to the citizens, both in
terms of reach and standards? What is the quality of service rendered?"
The last criterion, which is communication and transparency, "sought answers
whether the state plans and implements policies in a transparent and
accountable manner? Is procurement open? Are there measures against
corruption? Do citizens have opportunity to question their leaders? How
easily can citizens obtain information about the State's finances?"
The implication of the exercise is that a couple of states will be selected
based on their performance in the assessment as "SEEDS compliant States" or
lead states. What this means is that these selected states from the next
financial year will likely receive additional budgetary allocation from the
Federal Government and in addition, donor partners in the country are
intending to add their own windfall to the fortunes of those states. The
donors have clearly indicated willingness to use the results of this
exercise as a platform to identify states that can be given support and
areas in which these states can be supported.
Rank State Score
1 Enugu 57.22
2 FCT 50.28
3 Osun 45.72
4 Ekiti 45.45
5 Ebonyi 44.27
6 Ondo 42.65
7 Lagos 41.40
8 Kaduna 40.80
9 Anambra 40.25
10 Cross River 38.45
11 Yobe 36.45
12 Benue 43.00
13 Jigawa 40.60
14 Adamawa 39.85
15 Delta 37.70
16 Kano 37.60
17 Edo 36.95
18 Kogi 36.57
19 Rivers 36.22
20 Bauchi 35.82
21 Imo 33.90
22 Kwara 33.65
23 Plateau 33.65
24 Gombe 33.60
25 Akwa Ibom 33.10
26 Kebbi 32.50
27 Sokoto 31.50
28 Ogun 31.35
29 Zamfara 31.05
30 Niger 30.75
31 Abia 29.85
32 Katsina 27.65
33 Nasarawa 26.67
34 Bornu 25.80
35 Oyo 23.52
36 Taraba 22.20
37 Bayelsa Did Not Participate
Policy 20 Points
Budget & Fiscal Management 40 Points
Service Delivery 20 Points
Communication & Transparency 20 Points
NOTE: States ranked 1-11 did not have any red grades. Others from 12 down
had one or more grades.