Rising revenue, worsening hardship: Nigerians deserve better -Oye, ex-NACCIMA boss

By Beifoh Osewele

Erstwhile president of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Agriculture (NACCIMA) and Chairman of the Alliance for Economic Research and Ethics, Dele Kelvin Oye, has expressed concern over the persistent hardship, poverty and deteriorating living conditions confronting Nigerians despite increased revenues accruing to the Federal and state governments, insisting that improved government finances must translate into jobs, functional infrastructure, quality public services and better living standards.

Oye said the growing disparity between government revenue and citizens’ satisfaction with public services raised serious questions about the management of public resources, warning that increased allocations, bigger budgets and impressive revenue figures would amount to little unless they produced measurable improvements in people’s lives.

His concerns followed the release of the revised 2026 State Performance Index (pSPI) by Phillips Consulting, which revealed that despite stronger fiscal conditions across parts of the federation, Nigerians remained largely dissatisfied with employment opportunities, access to clean water, government support for businesses, security and other essential services.

The report recorded a national composite citizen satisfaction score of 3.01 out of five, barely above the neutral midpoint of 3.00, while employment opportunities received the lowest rating of 2.31, placing them in the critical category.

Access to clean water scored 2.67, government support for businesses 2.71, security 2.84 and law-enforcement conduct 2.85, reflecting the difficulties citizens continued to experience in areas directly affecting their welfare and economic opportunities.

Oye said the findings exposed the disconnect between improved government finances and the everyday realities of Nigerians, many of whom continued to contend with unemployment, inadequate infrastructure, insecurity and poor access to basic services.

According to him, higher revenues from Federation Account distributions, Value Added Tax receipts, exchange-rate adjustments and other fiscal developments should provide governments with greater capacity to address these challenges, rather than merely increase the size of public budgets.

“Nigeria is at a crucial point in its public-finance journey. State governments have recently received and reported higher nominal revenues. That should create room to repair roads, improve water systems, equip health facilities, support enterprise and strengthen education. But revenue is not development; it is only the resource from which development may be built.

“The revised 2026 pcl. State Performance Index (pSPI) puts this challenge in clear view. It records stronger fiscal conditions across parts of the federation, aided by larger Federation Account distributions, higher VAT receipts, exchange-rate effects and other national macroeconomic adjustments. Yet the report’s 2026 citizen survey records a national composite score of only 3.01 out of 5, just above its neutral midpoint of 3.00.”

Oye cautioned against interpreting the findings as evidence that governments had achieved nothing, explaining that the figures instead demonstrated that improvements in public finances had not generated sufficient satisfaction among citizens.

“The conclusion should be sober. The figure does not prove that public services have not improved at all. It does show that stronger fiscal conditions have not yet translated into a level of citizen experience that commands broad confidence. Under the report’s own scale, satisfaction only marginally outweighs dissatisfaction,” he stated.

The Alliance chairman maintained that the fundamental responsibility of government was not simply to generate and distribute revenue but to ensure that public expenditure produced tangible benefits for citizens.

He said governments must move beyond celebrating increased allocations and budgetary provisions to demonstrating how public funds were improving schools, hospitals, roads, water supply, security and economic opportunities.

Oye identified poor allocation of resources, delayed release of funds, weak procurement processes, abandoned projects and inadequate maintenance of public infrastructure as factors capable of undermining the developmental impact of increased government revenues.

He argued that a government could record significant growth in revenue without achieving corresponding improvements in public welfare if the additional resources were poorly managed or directed towards projects that failed to address citizens’ priorities.

He consequently called for a fundamental change in the assessment of government performance, stressing that public officials should be judged not merely by the amounts budgeted or spent but by the quality, functionality and accessibility of services delivered.

According to him, government spending should be subjected to measurable performance indicators, including project completion timelines, compliance with approved budgets, functionality of public facilities and the number of citizens who benefit from public investments.

He urged the Federal, state and local governments to publish comprehensive information on public expenditure, procurement processes, project implementation and service delivery to enable citizens to independently assess the utilisation of public funds.

As an immediate accountability measure, Oye proposed that every state, the Federal Capital Territory and local government should publish a 90-day public delivery plan concentrating on no more than three of its weakest service areas.

He explained that each plan should contain specific targets, implementation timelines, funding arrangements and publicly accessible monitoring mechanisms, with governments required to explain missed deadlines and disclose corrective actions.

Oye, however, clarified that the proposed 90-day plans were not intended to suggest that complex problems such as unemployment, insecurity and inadequate water supply could be resolved within three months.

Rather, he said, they should constitute the first phase of longer-term programmes through which governments could demonstrate measurable progress and sustain public accountability.

He also advocated stronger collaboration among the three tiers of government, noting that employment creation, public safety, sanitation, primary healthcare and access to clean water required coordinated interventions.

While the Federal Government had responsibility for providing a stable economic environment and transparent funding arrangements, he said state and local governments must ensure that resources under their control were efficiently deployed to address the needs of their communities.

Oye disclosed that the Alliance would use the findings of the performance index to strengthen public accountability by examining government spending, project implementation, fiscal risks and service delivery outcomes.

“Alliance for Ethics will treat the pSPI as a starting point for accountability, not a final judgment on any state. We will ask whether governments publish delivery compacts, make data usable, manage fiscal risks, complete projects, maintain public assets and respond to the services citizens rate most weakly.

“Citizens, journalists, civil society and businesses should keep asking five questions: What exactly changed? Where is the independent evidence? Who benefited and who was left out? What did it cost, including future debt? Can the public inspect the result without an appointment, a press pass or special access?”

He maintained that Nigerians deserved greater transparency in the management of public resources, particularly at a time when governments were reporting increased revenues while citizens continued to face difficulties accessing essential services.

“Nigeria does not lack revenue headlines, plans or project announcements. What it needs is a more rigorous public ethic: money must be allocated well, released on time, spent transparently, converted into functioning services and measured by the change it produces in people’s lives.

“The pSPI’s score of 3.01 is not a reason for despair. It is a reason for discipline. Higher nominal receipts create an opportunity; only effective utilisation and measurable outcomes create development. A government should be judged not only by the size of its budget, but by the quality of life its budget makes possible,” Oye declared.