(Its Natural Endowment and Economy)

Akwa Ibom State has a land area of 8412km2 with a projected population of 3.5 million (2005). Its population grows at 2.83%, slightly higher than the 2.8% national average. Akwa Ibom State is compact and has a vast and promising resource profile including a growing population, vast agricultural and forest resources including oil palm, cassava, sea food, raffia palm, rubber, wood, citrus fruits, yam, cocoyam, kola-nut, cocoa, plantain, banana, etc. The State also has vast deposits of industrial minerals – silica sand, gravel, limestone, clay, sodium chloride as well as crude oil and natural gas that have given vent to massive hydrocarbon exploitation.

Akwa Ibom State is also strategically located in the Gulf of Guinea and provides a major natural outlet into the Gulf of Guinea, which has assumed immense economic and strategic importance globally. Indeed its 129km of coastline is the longest for any State in Nigeria and offers a fine window for tourism, marine transportation and aquatic resource exploitation for investments.

FISCAL PROFILE OF THE STATE

The State like most States in the Federation relies virtually (indeed almost exclusively) for its funding from the Federation Account, which accounts for well over 90% of its gross revenue annually. In the last seven years the State’s annual revenue from the Federal Account has increased considerably, despite the brief interregnum of the on-shore / off-shore dichotomy palaver.

Similarly, the state Internally Generated Revenue had also increased considerably. Tables 1 and II present the details of the States Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and the Federally (State and LGAs) Collected Revenue in the last seven years. This huge inflow has significantly expanded the size of the state’s economy and these investments are represented in the state’s huge rising gross capital formation.

Table 1 Internally Generated Revenue (1999 – 2006)

Year	Amount(N)
1999	0.979 billion
2000	1.860 billion
2001	3.380 billion
2002	1.886 billion
2003	2.499 billion
2004	2.411 billion
2005	4.373 billion
2006*	5.616 billion

1. *As estimated 2006 Budget
2. Source: State Ministry of Finance

Table 2
Federally Collected Revenue (Net Allocation)

Year	State Amount(N)	LGN
June / Dec. 1999	2.832 billion	1.38
2000	21.853 billion	5.6
2001	30.858 billion	6.3
2002	18.793 billion	10.6
2003	32.445 billion	13.37
2004	53.187 billion	17.59
2005	78.036 billion	20.76
2006*	82.236 billion	25.00*

1. *Estimated
2. Source: Federal Ministry of Finance

BUDGET MANAGEMENT

In the last seven (7) years, during which the State’s annual revenue profile has been growing, efforts have also been made to put in place an effective fiscal and budget management regime. Effectively, about 75% of the state’s gross annual revenue is now channelled into capital budgets. This is a deliberate attempt to create the enabling structures and institutions that will support private sector-led economic growth and development if the state must attain the highest level of development and emerge as a global player in the national economy. The details of the state’s Recurrent / Capital Budget ratio in the last seven years is presented in table 3.

Table 3

Percentage of Recurrent / Capital Expenditure (State)

Year	% Recurrent	% Capital
1999	68	32
2000	65	35
2001	63	37
2002	73	27
2003	65	35
2004	49	51
2005	38	72
2006	23	77

Source: Ministry of Economic Development.

"Source of Extract (Text):" Ministry of Economic Development, Akwa Ibom State (August, 2006).

Your support for Moses Essien as Governor of Akwa Ibom State 2007 is a support for a government that will harness the rich resources of Akwa Ibom State into great investments that will transform the State into one of the best in the World.


MOSES ESSIEN
People’s Democratic Party (PDP)
Governorship Aspirant for Akwa Ibom State.