Nigerian states are struggling to translate a surge in public revenues into better living conditions for residents, even after federal allocations more than doubled in the past three years, according to a new performance assessment that questions whether the country’s fiscal windfall is reaching ordinary citizens.
The 2026 Phillips Consulting State Performance Index (pSPI) found that federal allocations to states climbed 118 percent between 2022 and 2025, driven by reforms that boosted Federation Account receipts.
Yet average citizen satisfaction with public services stood at just 2.90 out of five, with fewer than half of the country’s states scoring above the report’s benchmark of 3.0.
“Spending is a number. Progress is an outcome,” the report said, arguing that the gap between rising government receipts and citizens’ experience reflects the quality of governance rather than the size of state budgets.
The findings come as President Bola Tinubu’s economic reforms, including the removal
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