Lagos and Rivers stand as Nigeria’s most self-financing states

Key Takeaways

  • Rivers, Lagos, and Ogun lead the ranking, covering most operating costs from their own revenue.
  • Jigawa, Bayelsa, and Yobe are the most dependent on federal allocations, with internal revenue covering only a fraction of expenses.
  • Higher-ranked states demonstrate stronger economic resilience and better domestic revenue mobilisation.
  • Lower-ranked states need to grow internal revenue or reduce operating expenses to improve financial self-sufficiency.

BudgIT’s State Fiscal Independence Index measures how well Nigerian states can fund their day-to-day operations using only Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) versus Recurrent (operating) Expenditure. The index is calculated as Operating Expenses ÷ IGR, with lower scores indicating stronger fiscal self-reliance.

States such as Rivers (0.82), Lagos (0.84), and Ogun (1.48) cover most of their operating costs internally, indicating strong economic resilience. In contrast, Jigawa (13.66), Bayelsa (8.66), and Yobe (7.97) rely heavily on federal allocations, with internal revenue covering only a small fraction of expenses. The index highlights which states are financially self-sufficient and which need to grow revenue or reduce costs to improve sustainability.

Source:

BudgIT Research

Period:

2024
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