Enugu State has emerged as Nigeria’s lowest-ranked jurisdiction in the share of internally generated revenue derived from taxes, with only 12.7 per cent of its estimated N407 billion IGR in 2025 coming from taxation.
The figures place the state 37th out of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, despite its estimated revenue ranking third nationally.
According to an IGR briefing sourced to National Bureau of Statistics data via StatiSense, Enugu generated an estimated N51.5 billion from taxes, compared with about N355 billion from non-tax revenue sources.
This places its tax contribution far below the national average of 73.6 per cent and raises questions about the composition of the state’s revenue base and the potential for expanding tax-generated income.
The figures contrast sharply with those of other jurisdictions, including Abia and the FCT, which recorded 100 per cent tax shares, while Rivers posted 96.7 per cent and Lagos 83.5 per cent.
Within the South-East, Imo recorded 85.6 per cent, Anambra 73.9 per cent and Ebonyi 63.6 per cent.
However, a low tax share does not, by itself, prove poor tax administration or underperformance; further details on revenue classifications, collection systems and the sustainability of non-tax income would be needed to determine what the figures mean for Enugu State’s fiscal strategy.
At a recent town hall in Enugu, televised live by some national television stations, Governor Peter Mbah had dismissed the narrative that his administration was overtaxing the people, noting that it was being fuelled by the opposition and beneficiaries of the corruption and sharp practices that prevailed in the revenue collection system until his administration came on board and implemented reforms, introducing technology in the process to plug revenue leakages.
Mbah also maintained that, contrary to perception, the surge in the state’s revenue was driven by innovation and economic diversification under his administration, which had expanded revenue sources.
He also reminded the audience that taxation was on the Exclusive Legislative List of the Constitution; hence, no state could legislate to increase or lower any form of tax, be it Personal Income Tax, Company Income Tax, Value Added Tax, Withholding Tax, among others.
He said his administration had widened the tax net to bring in more people who had never paid tax, but had never increased taxes.
“This is one falsehood that has been so peddled that it’s even beginning to take a semblance of a truth. Meanwhile, overtaxation does not exist, and I think those who think we may be taxing more are essentially looking at the sort of growth we have recorded in our IGR.
“Because they couldn’t have imagined such growth happening within the period it happened, they felt perhaps the only justification is that we have burdened the people of Enugu to realise that. But that’s far from the truth.
“So, what did we do to grow our IGR? First of all, we plugged all the leakages. We ensured that nobody makes payments in cash on behalf of the state government.
“But, importantly, we have so far activated a whole lot of our dormant assets. We now earn quite a lot from those assets, and we built new ones,” he stated.
He named the Hotel Presidential, Enugu United Palm Products Limited, Nigergas, Nike Lake, the International Conference Centre, among other moribund assets his administration recovered, completed or resuscitated, then optimised and monetised.
The Governor also named new revenue-yielding assets like Enugu Air, saying tax revenues constituted a marginal component of the state’s IGR.
He, however, said that his administration expected the tax component to grow with time as more economic activities occurred in the state.
Mbah added that most people also mistake payments for services that government renders, such as the issue of C-of-O, refuse disposal by the Enugu State Waste Management Authority (ESWAMA) for taxes, noting that his administration had also consolidated most of the services and costs.
“How much did we say they should pay? N36,000 annually for businesses. And that includes business premises and other rates and services. So, it’s N100 per day.
“We also had the complaints about people going to the market, I’m sure maybe from the local governments, to collect money. I made an announcement to stop that; that nobody should collect N100 or N200 from our market women,” he had explained.
