By James Odunayo
A compilation of states’ budgets approved by each governor after scrutiny from their respective state Houses of Assembly has shown that N25.49 trillion would be spent by 34 states, excluding the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
As of the time of gathering this data by RipplesMetrics, only two states, Plateau and Kwara, are yet to approve their proposed budget for 2025. While Plateau proposed N471.1 billion as fiscal appropriation for this year, Kwara State presented N540.3 billion to its state assembly.
Although the constitution does not specify a deadline for when a governor or president must submit or sign a fiscal budget, it is generally believed that completing the preparation, presentation, and authorization before the start of the proposed fiscal year allows for sufficient time for implementation.
Meanwhile, data gathered showed that the approved budget is higher than N16.15 trillion signed by the 36 states in 2024 and N11.17 trillion approved by states in 2023.
However, there are concerns that many of the budgets presented will largely run at a deficit. This is because some states generate very low internally generated revenue (IGR) and rely heavily on federal government allocations (FAAC) or loans from multilateral financial institutions such as the World Bank, IMF, AfDB, and others.
For instance, Ripples Metrics has reported that 27 states would be unable to cover their 2023 budget’s personnel costs solely with the internally generated revenue (IGR) for that year, even if all IGR were allocated to the budget. Another separate report shows that the per capita revenue on population in some states declined this year despite an increase recorded in IGR collection.
Meanwhile, as of June 30, 2024, the combined debt of Nigeria’s 36 states stood at N11.47 trillion. The domestic debt of the states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) rose from N4.07 trillion in March to N4.27 trillion by the end of June 2024, marking a five per cent increase.
States’ budget for 2025
The data collected from media reports showed that the states with the highest budget are Lagos State with N3.36 trillion, Ogun with N1.56 trillion, Rivers State with N1.18 trillion, and Niger with N1.05 trillion.
Breaking the budget by region, in the Northwest region, the state governors of Sokoto, Katsina, and Kano signed N526.88 billion, N682.24 billion, and N719.75 billion, respectively, as their 2025 budget. Also, Jigawa, Zamfara and Kaduna approved N698.3 billion, N546.01 billion, and N790.43 billion, respectively.
Similarly, in the South-South region, Cross River, Akwa Ibom, and Delta states signed N538.52 billion, N955 billion, and N936.08 billion respectively, while Bayelsa State approved N699.57 billion, Edo State approved N675.22 billion, and Rivers had the highest budget in the region with N1.18 trillion signed by the governor.
In the North-Central, Kogi, Nassarawa, Benue and Niger states approved N582.4 billion, N384.32 billion, N55011 billion and N1.56 trillion separately.
For the South-East region, the governors of Abia, Enugu, and Ebonyi states signed N750 billion, N971 billion, and N444.98 billion, while Anambra and Imo approved N606.99 billion and N807 billion.
In the South-West region, governors in Ekiti, Ogun, Osun, and Oyo approved N375.7 billion, N1.054 trillion, N427.76 billion, and N684 billion, respectively. Lagos State had a whopping N3.36 trillion as the signed budget in 2025.
Meanwhile, in the North-East region, Adamawa, Bauchi, and Gombe had N486.22 billion, N467.86 billion, and N369.9 billion apiece. Also, Taraba and Yobe got N431.3 billion and N320.8 billion, respectively, as their 2025 approved budget. The data shows that at least 13 states had their budgets increased from the initial proposed amount presented at their assemblies before it was signed into law.
