Anambra, Lagos, Kwara top five best-performing states in Nigeria – BudgiT
Anambra State has emerged as the best-performing state in Nigeria, displacing Rivers from the top spot in the latest fiscal performance ranking of the 35 states, according to the 2025 edition of the State of States Report by BudgIT.
The report, which assesses states’ financial sustainability, budget efficiency, and capital investment priorities, revealed that Anambra, Lagos, Kwara, Abia, and Edo made up the new top five performers.
“Anambra has clinched the best-performing state in the federation, moving from number 2 to the first position in the ranking,” the report stated. “Lagos has retained its second position for the second time in a row, while Kwara has moved up from its 4th position in the 2024 edition to number 3 in 2025.”
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The report noted that Rivers State, which had consistently ranked among the top five in the past five years, was ‘conspicuously absent’ from the 2025 ranking. In the 2024 edition, the top five states were Rivers, Lagos, Anambra, Kwara, and Cross River.
It said, “Rivers State is excluded from this report due to the removal of elected officers due to the state of emergency. The state failed to produce an audited statement as of the final data compilation for this report.”
It noted that Edo and Abia were among the biggest movers into the top bracket this year. Edo State, a new entrant into the top five group, had been lurking in the top 10 range for the last four reporting periods. Abia State, on the other hand, is perhaps the strongest-performing state, as it has never been in the top 10 range and is now number 4 in the country.
In terms of Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) performance, the report disclosed that in the 2024 edition, Rivers (121.26 percent) and Lagos (118.39 percent) were the only two states that had more than enough IGR to cover their operating expenses.
However, with Rivers out of the analysis, this coveted group had Lagos as a returning state with 120.87 percent and Enugu at the top with 146.68 percent of IGR to operating expense ratios, it noted.
The BudgiT report added that only five states—Abia, Anambra, Kwara, Ogun, and Edo – were able to generate enough IGR to cover at least half of their operating expenses. This means that 28 states needed federation transfers, among others, to a considerable degree.
The fiscal strain among states has worsened compared to the previous year. “In the 2024 edition of the report, only six states needed more than five times their IGR to cover their operating expenses. In the 2025 edition, that number has more than doubled,” the report highlighted.
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“Fourteen states in the 2025 report needed five times their IGR to cover their operating expenses alone. This implies that some states struggled with IGR growth in the 2024 fiscal year.”
“Despite the challenges, no state needed to borrow to meet its total operating costs,” the report said.
