Mark Aba, Abuja
BudgIT has expressed concern over the poor implementation of state budgets, revealing that state governments spent only 24.4 per cent of their combined ₦35.22 trillion 2026 budgets as of June, despite receiving ₦11.38 trillion from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) in 2025.
The Country Director of BudgIT, Vahyala Kwaga, disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja during the launch of the 11th edition of the organisation’s State of States Report, titled From Allocation to Impact: Rethinking State Spending Priorities.
Kwaga said the ₦11.38 trillion allocation represented an increase of more than 232 per cent compared with the ₦3.43 trillion received by the states in 2022.
He attributed the significant revenue growth partly to the removal of the petrol subsidy, which increased the amount of revenue available for distribution among the federal, state and local governments.
According to him, an analysis of 34 states showed that their combined revenue increased from approximately ₦4.99 trillion in 2022 to ₦15.53 trillion in 2025, while their share of the Federation Account rose from ₦3.43 trillion to ₦11.38 trillion within the same period.
However, he expressed concern that the increased revenue had not translated into corresponding levels of budget implementation.
He said the 34 states collectively budgeted ₦35.22 trillion for 2026 but had spent only ₦8.60 trillion by the end of June, representing 24.4 per cent of their total budgetary provisions.
Kwaga said the figures raised questions about how effectively state governments were deploying the additional resources at their disposal and whether the increased revenue was translating into improved infrastructure and essential public services.
“State governments now have access to resources at a scale that should create greater opportunities to address longstanding development deficits.
“But what have these additional resources meant for the people of our states? How much of this increased fiscal capacity is finding its way into better public services, stronger infrastructure and improved human development?” he queried.
The BudgIT Country Director also announced a revision of the organisation’s methodology for assessing state fiscal performance, explaining that the new framework would focus more on the quality and developmental impact of public spending.
He said the previous assessment framework largely examined conventional fiscal indicators, including states’ ability to finance operating expenses through internally generated revenue, annual IGR growth, debt sustainability, debt servicing, personnel costs and the balance between capital and recurrent expenditure.
While acknowledging the importance of these indicators in determining the financial health of state governments, Kwaga said they were insufficient to establish whether public expenditure was delivering meaningful benefits to citizens.
He noted that fiscal assessments should go beyond revenue generation and budgetary allocations to determine whether government spending was producing functional schools, accessible healthcare, improved livelihoods and other essential services.
Under the revised methodology, BudgIT will pay greater attention to investments in critical sectors such as health, education, agriculture, water, sanitation and hygiene, as well as actual expenditure and the implementation of budgeted projects.
Kwaga explained that the new approach was designed to determine whether resources allocated to priority sectors were being effectively utilised and translated into measurable development outcomes.
He said the assessment would place greater emphasis on the quality and developmental orientation of public spending rather than focusing predominantly on how much revenue states generate or receive.
The Country Director further called on Nigerians, civil society organisations, journalists and policymakers to use the report’s findings to strengthen public scrutiny of state finances, evaluate the performance of elected officials and demand greater accountability in the management of public resources.
He described the 11th edition of the report as an important shift in subnational fiscal accountability, stressing that it should serve not merely as a ranking exercise but also as a tool for identifying progress, addressing weaknesses and encouraging states to learn from one another.
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