Anambra State has emerged as the best performing state in Nigeria, displacing Rivers from the top spot in the latest financial performance ranking of 35 states, according to the 2025 edition of the State of the States report by Budgit.
The report, which assesses the fiscal sustainability, budget efficiency and capital investment priorities of the states, revealed that Anambra, Lagos, Kwara, Abia and Edo made up the new top five performers.
“Anambra has achieved the best performing state in the federation, rising from number 2 to first position in the ranking,” the report said. “Lagos has retained its second position for the second consecutive time, while Kwara has moved up from its fourth position in the 2024 edition to third in 2025.”
Also read: States spend average N3,483 per capita on health care in Budget 2024
The report said Rivers State, which had consistently ranked in the top five for the past five years, was 'conspicuously absent' from the 2025 rankings. In the 2024 edition, the top five states were Rivers, Lagos, Anambra, Kwara and Cross River.
It said, “Rivers State is excluded from this report due to the state of emergency resulting in the removal of elected officials. The state failed to produce an audited statement as of the final data compilation for this report.”
It said Edo and Abia were among the biggest movers in the top bracket this year. Edo State, a new entrant into the top five group, had been lurking in the top 10 range for the last four reporting periods. Abia State, on the other hand, is probably the strongest performing state, as it has never been in the top 10 and is now ranked fourth in the country.
In terms of internally generated revenue (IGR) performance, the report revealed that in the 2024 edition, Rivers (121.26 per cent) and Lagos (118.39 per cent) were the only two states that had more than enough IGR to cover their operating expenses.
However, when Rivers was excluded from the analysis, Lagos was the returning state in this prestigious group with 120.87 per cent and Enugu was on top with 146.68 per cent of IGR to operating expenditure ratio, it noted.
The Budgeity report said only five states—Abia, Anambra, Kwara, Ogun and Edo—were able to generate enough IGR to cover at least half of their operating expenses. This means that the 28 states largely required federation transfers between other states.
Fiscal tensions between states have become worse over the past year. “In the 2024 edition of the report, only six states needed more than five times their IGR to cover their operating expenses. In the 2025 edition, this number has more than doubled,” the report highlighted.
Also Read: Nigerian States to Achieve 66.9% Education Implementation in 2025 – BudgIT
“Fourteen states in the 2025 report alone needed five times their IGR to cover their operating expenses. This means some states are struggling with IGR growth in the 2024 fiscal year.”
“Despite the challenges, no state needs to borrow to meet its total operating costs,” the report said.
