A civic tech non-profit organisation, BudgIT, has disclosed that 28 states in Nigeria relied on the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) for at least 55 per cent of their total revenue in 2024.
This was contained in its 2025 States of States report released on Tuesday.
While the 28 states were not mentioned, the report showed that reliance on federal allocations remains high despite a 110.74 per cent increase in states’ FAAC share from N5.4 trillion in 2023 to N11.38 trillion in 2024.
In October 2024, BudgIT reported that 32 states relied on the FAAC allocation for 55 per cent of their revenue in 2023.
It noted that internally generated revenue (IGR) remains within the control of the states and displays considerable variability, with Lagos averaging N541.35 billion, Ogun N92.76 billion, Delta N74.45 billion, and Kaduna N44.82 billion over the 10-year period.
“By contrast, the states with the lowest averages — Adamawa (N9.92 billion), Gombe (N9.54 billion), Taraba (N7.83 billion), Kebbi (N7.48 billion), and Yobe (N6.67 billion) — barely matched Kaduna’s average,” the organisation said.
“In terms of immediate growth between 2023 and 2024, Enugu (381.44%), Bayelsa (173.69%), Abia (129.37%), Osun (98.37%), and Kano (85.90%) led the pack.
“Moreover, unlike 2023 — when seven states recorded negative IGR growth — only two states experienced declines in 2024, reflecting overall improvement.”
That not withstanding, BudgIT added that the proportion of IGR within total recurrent revenue declined slightly from 25.27 per cent in 2023 to 20.27 per cent in 2024, indicating continued dependence on federal transfers.
According to the report, Abia state topped the list of states in capital project allocation, dedicating 77.05 per cent of its total expenditure to capital projects.
It said Abia topped the chart due to Rivers’ absence, as data was not collected due to the state of emergency.
Following Abia closely, are Anambra, Enugu, Ebonyi, and Taraba, each allocating over 70 percent of their budgets to capital expenditure.
BudgIT said, “Overall, 24 states spent at least half of their total expenditure on capital items, whereas Bauchi, Ekiti, Delta, Benue, Oyo, and Ogun devoted more than 60% of their budgets to personnel and overhead costs, highlighting persisting disparities in expenditure priorities.”
“Examining the broader revenue performance, total recurrent revenue for the 35 subnationals expanded significantly, rising from N6.6 trillion in 2022 to N8.66 trillion in 2023 and further to N14.4 trillion in 2024—a growth of 66.28%, far surpassing the 28.95% increase between 2022 and 2023.
“Lagos maintained the largest share of total recurrent revenue, though it was slightly reduced to 13.42% (approximately N1.93 trillion) from 14.32% in 2023.
“Gross FAAC transfers also recorded substantial growth over the decade. States such as Oyo (785.79%), Delta (708.36%), Niger (683.61%), Ekiti (680.22%), Gombe (643.23%), and Anambra (640.98%) experienced more than 600% growth in FAAC between 2015 and 2024, whereas states like Adamawa (230.98%), Imo (225.25%), Ogun (223.87%), Ebonyi (205.31%), Kogi (186.32%), and Kebbi (178.03%) recorded growth below 300% over the same period,” the report noted.
BudgIT also said Anambra came top in the 2025 fiscal performance ranking, rising from second position in the past year.
