Ten of the nineteen states in northern Nigeria that are signatories to the World Bank-assisted States Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability (SFTAS) are yet to publish their 2025 budgets despite committing to the project aimed at improving transparency and accountability, WikkiTimes reports.
WikkiTimes gathered that the 36 states through the Federal Government had benefited the sum of N471.9 billion from the World Bank in 2022 as part of the SFTAS to improve fiscal reforms at subnational level.
The states, through the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF), had earlier launched a states’ charter aimed at sustaining the ideals of fiscal transparency, accountability and sustainability in public finance management in Nigeria.
The programme also encouraged fiscal autonomy through the preparation of citizen-based budgets, timely preparation and publication of annual budget and audited financial statements as well as the adoption of national charts of account.
However, as states governors assented to their 2025 budget appropriations, only nine states in the North published their budget in line with their commitment to the SFTAS programme.
The other 10 states are yet to make their signed budget documents available online or through any means for citizens, which accentuates a breach of accountability and transparency from their parts.
WikkiTimes checks across the states reveal that Borno, Adamawa, Taraba and Gombe in the North East have not made their budget public.
In the North Central, Kwara, Niger and Nasarawa alongise Kebbi, Kano and Sokoto states in the North West have not presented theirs to the public, thus failing to fulfil their obligation as required by the SFTAS Project.
In contrast, Zamfara, Kaduna, Katsina and Jigawa States in the North West have made their approved budget public in compliance with their commitment to the SFTAS Project. Others in this category include Yobe and Bauchi in the North East; Plateau, Benue and Kogi States in the North Central zone.
What States Allocate for Capital and Recurrent Expenditures?
The Borno state Governor, Babagana Zulum, had on 6th January 2025 signed the 2025 budget of N615. 857 billion into law. The budget comprises a capital expenditure of N380.84 billion and a recurrent expenditure of N203.92 billion.
In Bauchi state, the sum of N467bn was approved with N284bn capital expenditure which represents 61% of the budget and N183bn Recurrent Expenditure representing 39%.
In Adamawa state, the sum of N486 billion was approved for the 2025 fiscal year. The recurrent expenditure is estimated at N137.2 billion, representing 28.23% of the total budget, while the capital development segment is allocated N348.9 billion, representing 71.77% of the total budget.
Gombe state has the sum of N2.9bn earmarked for capital expenditure, representing 65.30% of the total budget of N369bn while N111bn is allocated for recurrent expenditure, accounting for 34.70%, of the budgeted sum.
Kwara State House of Assembly in January passed the state’s 2024 appropriation bill of N292.7 billion. The approved appropriation bill reflected a total capital expenditure of N180.21 billion, while the recurrent expenditure stood at N113.836 billion.
In December 2024, Benue state legislature approved the 2025 budget, comprising N175,412 billion for recurrent and N374,700 billion for capital expenditures, amounting to a total of N550,112 billion.
In Niger State, the sum of ₦1.2 trillion was approved for the 2025 fiscal year with N188.42 billion (15.68%) to recurrent expenditure, while a significant N1.01 trillion (84.34%) is earmarked for capital projects.
In Nasarawa state, the sum of N402.57 billion was approved where Recurrent Expenditure stood at N166.38 billion (41.3%) and Capital Expenditure stood at N236.18 billion (58.7%).
The Sokoto state approved 2025 budget comprises a Capital Expenditure of N349.4 billion and a Recurrent Expenditure of N176.3 billion making the total budget size of N526.9 billion.
In Zamfara state, the total estimate for the 2025 fiscal year is N545.01bn with a Recurrent Expenditure ofN151.68bn (27.8%) and a Capital Expenditure of N393.33bn (72.2%).
Kano state has an approved budget sum of N719.76bn. The Recurrent Expenditure stands at N262.67 billion (36.5%) while the Capital Expenditure is N457.08bn (63.5%).
In Kogi state, the sum of N582.40bn was signed with Recurrent Expenditure of over N281.15bn (48.3%) while the Capital Expenditure stood at over ₦301.28bn (51.7%)
The Yobe state approved budget is N320.7bn. It allocates over N144 billion (44%) to recurrent expenditures and over N176 billion (55%) to capital expenditures.
The Plateau state has an approved sum of N529.4 billion appropriation for the fiscal year 2025, with recurrent expenditure at N201.5 billion and N269.6 billion for capital expenditure.
Kaduna state government earmarked the total sum of N7.9bn with the capital and recurrent expenditures standing at N5.51bn and N2.38bn respectively.
The Katsina state total budget amount stands at N692.2 bn. Recurrent expenditures are N157.9 billion, representing 23.15 per cent, while capital expenditures are N524.2 billion, representing 76.85 per cent.
Jigawa state has signed the N698.3 billion 2025 budget into law, with 76 per cent allocated for capital expenditure. N7.1bn for recurrent expenditure; and N5.37bn for capital projects.
Taraba and Kebbi states have only sketchy details of their 2025 budgets online as of the time of compiling this report. However, the sum of N431.3 billion was approved as the total budget amount for the former and N580.32bn for the latter.
However, in previous years, most states achieved between 80 -100% recurrent expenditure whereas in capital expenditure some states achieve even less than 40%.