Anambra State has been crowned the best-performing state in Nigeria’s 2025 Fiscal Performance Ranking, according to the latest edition of the BudgIT ‘State of States’ Report.
BudgIT revealed that Kwara state ascended from its previous second-place position.
The New Diplomat reports that the annual BudgIT report assesses sub-national governments across key metrics like financial sustainability, budget efficiency, and capital investment prioritisation.
Lagos, Kwara, Abia, and Edo followed in the top five, while Cross River suffered a major decline, dropping from fifth in 2024 to 30th in 2025.
Rivers State, a consistent top-five performer in previous years, was excluded from this year’s report due to the state of emergency declared earlier in the year, which prevented the release of audited data.
This was contained in a statement shared by BudgIT on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday.
The statement reads in part: “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 ten over the last four editions, and Abia, which had never previously featured in the top 10, now ranks fourth,” the organisation said.
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.
“While Rivers (121.26%) and Lagos (118.39%) were the only two states with sufficient IGR to cover their operating expenses in 2024, the absence of Rivers from this year’s analysis has reshaped this dynamic.
“Lagos remains a returning champion with 120.87%, while Enugu now leads with an impressive 146.68% IGR-to-operating expense ratio,” the report added.
Only five states—Abia, Anambra, Kwara, Ogun, and Edo—generated enough IGR to cover at least 50% of their operating expenses, compared with six in 2024. Fourteen states now require more than five times their IGR to cover costs, up from six in 2024, underscoring persistent challenges.
In capital expenditure, Abia led with 77.05% of its total expenditure devoted to capital projects, followed by Anambra, Enugu, Ebonyi, and Taraba, each allocating over 70%.
Overall, 24 states spent at least half of their budgets on capital projects, while Bauchi, Ekiti, Delta, Benue, Oyo, and Ogun devoted more than 60% to personnel and overhead costs.
Total recurrent revenue for all 35 states grew from N6.6 trillion in 2022 to N8.66 trillion in 2023 and N14.4 trillion in 2024—a 66.28% increase, far surpassing the 28.95% rise between 2022 and 2023.
Lagos accounted for 13.42% (N1.93 trillion) of total revenue in 2024. Gross FAAC transfers increased by 110.74%, reaching N11.38 trillion, with states like Oyo (785.79%), Delta (708.36%), and Anambra (640.98%) recording over 600% growth between 2015 and 2024. Despite these gains, 28 states relied on FAAC for at least 55% of total revenue.
