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the 36 state governors have been severely criticized by labour unions, civil society groups and opposition parties over the management of the N9 trillion windfall from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) in 2025. Notwithstanding the humongous increase in revenue from FAAC in recent times, the impact has not felt by the people. In fact, the FAAC windfall has not reflected in the lives of the citizens.
It has not even translated to good governance and renewal of road infrastructure, enhanced healthcare and improved education. Instead of attending to the needs of the people, some of the governors have prioritized vanity projects. They have neglected critical sectors such as human development and poverty eradication that the people yearn for.
The massive windfall since last year and early this year is driven mainly by increased oil revenue from subsidy removal, naira devaluation, and exchange rate adjustments. The excess money has put state governors under the spotlight. However, in spite of this record-high allocation, minimal impact is recorded in most states. In some states, there have been allegations of mismanagement of the FAAC inflows and seeming inability of the governors to translate the money into visible outcomes. This calls for stronger accountability and oversight.
The criticism appears legitimate. According to the monthly FAAC disbursement report published by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in the first eleven months of 2025, the three tiers of government shared a record N33.27trillion from FAAC. This represents 30 per cent increase compared to N25.46trillion disbursed in the same period of 2024.
Analysis of the total disbursement showed that the federal government received the sum of N6.865trillion, state governments N6.713trillion, while local government allocations rose to N4.905trillion in the same period. When the mandatory 13 per cent derivation revenue is added, the total inflows to the states rose to about N9trillion in 2025, up from N6.533trillion in 2024. This represents a significant rise of N2.4trillion or 36.7 per cent.
The 13 percent derivation peaked in September 2025, when oil-producing states shared N183billion, compared to N99.47bilion in September, 2024. In some states, the governors embark on ribbon-cutting projects like roads, flyovers and bridges which are considered by them as more “politically visible” than the long-term “invisible” investment in health, education and other human development initiatives. Ironically, the FAAC windfall has not significantly improving the lot of the people.
States with the highest allocation within the period under review are Delta with N594billion, followed by Rivers, Lagos and Akwa Ibom, with N488billion, N480billion and N451billion, respectively. States with the lowest allocation include: Niger, Ekiti, Cross River, Gombe, and Ebonyi, with N113.9billion, N119billion, N120billion, N125billion, and N127billion, respectively. According to data compiled by NBS, the 36 state governments spent an average of N3,483 per citizen on health in 2024 despite the record revenues.
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The report also showed the none of the states spent N10,000 per person. Only Lagos, Bayelsa, Edo, Abia, Kwara, Niger and Delta recorded per capita spending above N5,000 even when the states budgeted a total of N1.32trillion for health in 2024 fiscal year. The state governors spent only N816.64billion. This represents an overall performance of 61.9 per cent, signalling persistent huge gap between health funding plans and actual implementation.
On the average, state-level budget performance stood at 60.7 per cent. Only Yobe, Gombe, Ekiti, Lagos, Edo, Delta states reportedly implemented about 80 per cent of their health budgets. While the rising FAAC windfall has expanded the states’ fiscal profile, it is discouraging that some state governors have not expanded their Internally Generated Revenues (IGR).
This is worrisome because the more FAAC money states receive the less incentive some of them have to develop their own internal revenue sources. Available statistics bear this out. It reveals that total IGR within the states’ recurrent budget declined slightly from 25.27 per cent in 2023 to 20.27 per cent in 2024, indicating continued dependence on federal allocations. It is also an indictment on our feeding bottle federalism. There is, therefore, the need for the states to be less dependent on FAAC allocation and increase their IGR.
It is unfortunate that corruption undermined sustainable development at the sub-national level. Last year, President Bola Tinubu called on the citizens to hold their governors accountable on how they manage the FAAC windfall. Let the citizens heed the president’s wise advice. There should be no room for complacency or docility. The citizens should rise to the occasion and demand accountability from their governors. Unfortunately, the docile nature of the populace has not encouraged impactful governance, improved infrastructure and better service delivery.
The situation is worse at the grassroots level, where governors unconscionably determine how local government allocations are spent. This approach to governance at the local government level has stunted growth and development of the rural areas. The abandonment of local development has contributed to the rising insecurity across the country.
Let the governors be reminded that development at the grassroots is critical to the sustenance of our democracy. Overall, there is urgent need for transparency in the management of the FAAC windfall. Nigerians need financial accountability from those elected to manage their affairs.
