Anambra tops 2025 State of States fiscal performance rankings
… Abia, Edo join Lagos, Kwara in top five, as Cross River exits
Anambra State has emerged as the top-performing state in Nigeria’s 2025 State of States Fiscal Performance Rankings, showcasing strong financial management, improved revenue generation, and prudent expenditure practices that set it apart from other states.
Anambra, Lagos, Kwara, Abia, and Edo topped states promoting fiscal transparency and accountability, according to the Budgit 2025 State of States report released Tuesday.
Anambra State rose from second to first position, securing the title of the best-performing state in the federation, while Lagos maintained its second place for the second consecutive year. Kwara climbed from fourth to third, Edo entered the top five after consistently ranking within the top 10 over the last four editions, and Abia, which had never previously featured in the top 10, now ranks fourth.
Other notable movements include Akwa Ibom, which surged 17 places from 27th to 10th, and Zamfara, which moved up nine places from 26th to 17th. At the lower end of the rankings, Imo, Kogi, Jigawa, Benue, and Yobe occupy the bottom positions, with Cross River experiencing the steepest decline, falling from fifth in 2024 to 30th in 2025.
Read also: State of States 2025: Anambra top states able to cover its expenditure without borrowing
In terms of Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) performance, BudgIT report shows that Lagos State remains a returning champion with 120.87 percent, while Enugu State now leads with an impressive 146.68 percent IGR-to-operating expense ratio.
Furthermore, unlike the previous year, when six states generated enough IGR to cover at least 50 percent of their operating expenses, only five states achieved this in 2025: Abia, Anambra, Kwara, Ogun, and Edo. Consequently, 28 states still relied heavily on federal transfers and other sources to meet their recurrent expenditures.
Moreover, the report indicates that the 2025 capital expenditure reflects a marked shift compared to 2024, when only Rivers State allocated more than 70 percent of its total expenditure to capital outlays.
With Rivers’ absence, Abia now tops the ranking, dedicating approximately 77.05 percent of its total expenditure to capital projects. Other states following closely include Anambra, Enugu, Ebonyi, and Taraba, each allocating over 70 percent of its budget to capital expenditure.
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 percent of their budgets to personnel and overhead costs, highlighting persisting disparities in expenditure priorities.
A broader revenue performance report reveals that total recurrent revenue for the 35 sub-nationals 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 percent, far surpassing the 28.95 percent increase between 2022 and 2023.
Lagos maintained the largest share of total recurrent revenue, though it was slightly reduced to 13.42 percent (approximately N1.93 trillion) from 14.32 percent in 2023.
Read also: Anambra, Lagos, Kwara top five best-performing states in Nigeria – BudgiT
Gross FAAC transfers also recorded substantial growth over the decade. States such as Oyo (785.79 percent), Delta (708.36 percent), Niger (683.61 percent), Ekiti (680.22 percent), Gombe (643.23 percent), and Anambra (640.98 percent) experienced more than 600 percent growth in FAAC between 2015 and 2024, whereas states like Adamawa (230.98 percent), Imo (225.25 percent), Ogun (223.87 percent), Ebonyi (205.31 percent), Kogi (186.32 percent), and Kebbi (178.03 percent) recorded growth below 300 percent over the same period.
Total Gross FAAC for the 35 states reached N11.38 trillion in 2024, representing a 110.74 percent increase over N5.4 trillion in 2023. Despite these gains, reliance on federal allocations remains high: 28 states relied on FAAC for at least 55 percent of their total revenue, while 21 relied on it for over 70 percent.
The expenditure patterns illuminate these trends. Total state expenditure rose to N15.63 trillion in 2024, a 64.69 percent increase from N9.49 trillion in 2023. Lagos accounted for N2.37 trillion (14.95 percent) of total subnational spending.
Personnel expenditures increased from an average of N53.11 billion in 2023 to N65.17 billion in 2024, a 23.24 percent rise, while overhead costs grew 62.66 percent, from N1.5 trillion to N2.44 trillion.
Capital expenditure exhibited even more significant growth: only one state recorded a decline, while the remaining states collectively spent N7.63 trillion in 2024, an 87.93 percent increase over N4.06 trillion in 2023, and surpassed recurrent expenditure by approximately N1 trillion.
This shift reflects a stronger focus on subnational infrastructure and development projects, emphasising the critical role of states in federalism.
However, implementation remains uneven in social sectors. For education, states budgeted N2.41 trillion but spent only N1.61 trillion, achieving 66.9 percent implementation.
Read also: Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu top 2025 state capital spending ranking
Nine states, Edo, Delta, Katsina, Rivers, Yobe, Ekiti, Bayelsa, Bauchi, and Osun, exceeded 80 percent of their budgeted allocations, with Edo, Delta, and Katsina surpassing 100 percent.
Average per capita spending remained low at N6,981, with no state exceeding N20,000 per capita and only eight states above N10,000.
In health, the state budgeted N1.32 trillion but expended N816.64 billion, achieving 61.9% implementation. Yobe, Gombe, Ekiti, Lagos, Edo, Delta, and Bauchi spent over 80 percent of their health budgets, with Yobe leading at 98.2 percent, though total expenditures remained modest.
Average per capita spending was N3,483, with only a few states exceeding N5,000, highlighting significant gaps in service delivery relative to education.
