Zamfara leads Nigerian states in IGR growth, BudgIT report shows

Zamfara State has emerged as Nigeria’s leading state in Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) growth, achieving a remarkable 240.44% increase, as reported in BudgIT’s 2024 State of States Report. This annual publication evaluates fiscal performance across Nigeria’s 36 states, assessing long-term sustainability, revenue diversification, and financial independence.

A statement by the spokesperson of the Zamfara Governor, Sulaiman Bala Idris, disclosed that the significant improvement in the growth of the Zamfara IGR is linked to the state’s decision not rely only on Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC).

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The statement added that the BudgIT report was obtained through its annual analysis, assessment and rankings of the fiscal performance of all 36 states, from the most to the least sustainable.

The BudgIT report explained the significant growth in Zamfara State’s IGR, highlighting that from its bottom position of 36th in 2023, Zamfara rose to 26th in 2024.

“This significant feat can be attributed to the state reversing the decline of 49.75 per cent observed in its 2022 IGR, increasing it by 240.22 per cent from N6.51bn in 2022 to N22.16bn in 2023.

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“There were significant increases in components of Zamfara’s IGR year-on-year: its Income Tax grew by 142.26 per cent from N5.03bn in 2022 to N12.18bn, licenses rose by 5921.22 per cent from N22.78 million in 2022 to N1.37 billion in 2023, Fees grew by 3610.38 per cent from N82.44 million in 2022 to N3.06 billion in 2023.

“Additionally, fines rose by 1924.52 per cent from N24.15 million in 2022 to N491.32 million in 2023, Sales grew by 32.49 per cent from N772.06 million in 2022 to N1.02 billion in 2023, Earnings grew by 542.59 per cent from N87.53 million in 2022 to N562.48 million in 2023, and its earnings from other taxes grew by 519.71 per cent from N412.03 million in 2022 to N2.55 billion in 2023.

“Furthermore, the state generated revenue from rent on government buildings, rent on lands and others, investment income and reimbursement, where it recorded no revenue in the previous year. Zamfara can demonstrate a commitment to improving its financial sustainability by exploring its natural resources in collaboration with the Federal Government to diversify its revenue base.

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“The state’s total revenue increased by 65.35 per cent to N144.95billion in 2023 from N87.68 billion earned the previous year. Regarding recurrent revenue structure, the state’s susceptibility to external fiscal shocks appeared to have reduced from the previous year as its FAAC dependence decreased from 90.52 per cent in 2022 to 74.66 per cent in 2023, despite the FAAC allocation rising by 4.93 per cent from N62.21 billion to N65.28 billion. Lastly, the IGR to recurrent revenue ratio for 2023 was 22.16 per cent higher than 9.48 per cent in 2022.”