By Jide Ajani
Posted to the Web: Wednesday, November 09, 2005

LAGOS—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.