Kebbi Tops North in BudgIT Fiscal Ranking, Placed Fifth in Nigeria

 The Kebbi State Government has announced that BudgIT has ranked Kebbi as the best managed state in Northern Nigeria and the fifth best managed in the federation in its 2026 State of States Report.




























By Umar Faruk















































The Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Dr Abba Sani Kalgo, disclosed this while addressing journalists in Birnin Kebbi on the findings of the report, which assessed the fiscal performance of all states for the 2025 fiscal year. "The report has named Kebbi State the best managed state in the entire North," Kalgo said. "Of the nineteen states of northern Nigeria, Kebbi stands first. In the broader national picture, Kebbi is ranked fifth in the federation."


He said the report, published on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, was based on audited financial statements, approved budgets and budget implementation reports. "It is important to be precise about the nature of this assessment. It is not a self-evaluation by the Kebbi State Government," he said. "It is the independent judgement of an organisation that has, for more than a decade, scrutinised the public finances of Nigerian states without fear or favour."

Kalgo explained that the index was built on four pillars: the ability of a state to meet its operating expenses and debt obligations from its own revenue, the viability of its fiscal position, the sustainability of its debt, and the priority given to spending on agriculture, health, education, water and sanitation. "Kebbi was assessed on each of these pillars, using our own published accounts, and on that basis has been placed at the summit of the North," he said.

Giving details of the findings, the Commissioner said total revenue grew by 59.54 per cent in 2025, the fastest rate of revenue growth of any state in the North-West. "Internally generated revenue more than doubled, rising by 107.81 per cent to N23.62 billion," he said. "Tax revenue rose by 38.74 per cent and non-tax revenue rose more than threefold. The report records a fiscal surplus of N15.13 billion for Kebbi, the largest of any state in the region."

He said capital expenditure increased by 60.08 per cent and now represents 63.45 per cent of total expenditure. "In practical terms, this means that for every naira the Kebbi State Government spent in the fiscal year in question, more than sixty-three kobo went into roads, schools, hospitals, water schemes, irrigation and agricultural support," Kalgo said.


On debt, he said debt service obligations stood at just 2.40 per cent of total revenue, adding that Kebbi remains the fourth least indebted state in the federation. "I wish to emphasise that these results did not arrive by accident. They are the product of deliberate reforms," he said. "This administration strengthened the Kebbi State Internal Revenue Service, automated collections and widened the tax base without imposing undue burdens on ordinary citizens."


He said the administration had maintained a credible medium-term expenditure framework, published its budgets and budget implementation reports routinely, and produced a citizens' budget. "These figures reflect the fiscal discipline and strategic direction that His Excellency, Governor Comrade Dr Nasir Idris, has established as the governing standard of this administration," Kalgo said.


The Commissioner used the briefing to respond to allegations by the African Democratic Congress, ADC, in Kebbi State concerning the management of public funds. "Throughout the course of this year, the African Democratic Congress in Kebbi State has sustained a campaign of allegations concerning the management of public funds," he said. "These allegations have been made through press conferences, social media and the broadcast media, and they have asserted, without the support of any verifiable evidence, that the resources of this state are being wasted and mismanaged."

He said the findings of the report had rendered the claims untenable. "A state that mismanages its resources does not record the largest fiscal surplus in its region," Kalgo said. "A state that borrows recklessly does not emerge as the fourth least indebted in the federation. A state that neglects its people does not devote nearly two-thirds of its expenditure to capital projects."


He added: "The allegations of the ADC were not founded on data, on audited accounts or on any document in the public domain. They were founded on the expectation that unsubstantiated claims, if repeated with sufficient frequency, would come to be accepted as fact."

Kalgo said the ADC had shown no inclination to retract its claims even with the independent findings before it. "What is most striking is that, even now, with the independent findings before them, the ADC has shown no inclination to retract a single word," he said. "Their campaign is lame, and its authors know no shame."


He said the party had never held executive responsibility in the state. "It has never prepared a budget, administered a payroll, serviced a loan or delivered a public project," he said. "Its contribution to public discourse on the finances of Kebbi State has consisted of commentary unaccompanied by evidence."



"We will take no lectures on fiscal responsibility from a party that has never been entrusted with a kobo of public money and has demonstrated, through its conduct this year, that it cannot be trusted with the truth," Kalgo said.


He, however, said the administration does not object to opposition. "Opposition is a legitimate and necessary feature of democratic governance, and a serious opposition that engages with the facts would be welcomed by this government," he said. "What this administration objects to is the deliberate misrepresentation of the fiscal condition of the state for partisan advantage."


Kalgo invited the leadership of the ADC in the state to study the report. "I therefore extend a formal invitation to the leadership of the ADC in Kebbi State. Study the report. Examine the figures and give kudos to this administration where kudos are due," he said.


He said the administration would not rest on the ranking. "This administration will not rest on this ranking. The Governor has made it clear that recognition is not an end in itself," Kalgo said. "Our task in the year ahead is to sustain the growth in our own revenue, to complete the projects under construction across the twenty-one local government areas, and to ensure that every expenditure is converted into a functioning road, a staffed school, an equipped clinic or a flowing water scheme."


He thanked the people of Kebbi State for their support. "To the people of Kebbi, this administration expresses its gratitude," he said. "The ranking announced this week is a tribute to the civil servants who maintain the integrity of our systems, to the officers of the Internal Revenue Service whose efforts have transformed our collections, to the traditional institutions and community leaders whose cooperation makes governance possible, to the farmers, traders and entrepreneurs whose enterprise sustains our economy, and to a Governor who has insisted from his first day in office that every naira of public money be accounted for."

"Kebbi State is first in the North. That is now a matter of public record, and this administration will continue to be guided by the facts and by the interests of the people it serves," Kalgo added.