After multiple budget extensions, Nigeria’s Budget Office published a provisional full-year 2024 Budget Performance Report by the end of September, with Wale Edun, minister of finance, claiming an implementation rate of about 80 percent across both capital and recurrent components. The report followed months of delayed execution and adjustments to the 2024 fiscal cycle.
However, findings from BudgIT’s Tracka show that funds disbursed for several capital projects, including Zonal Intervention Projects (ZIP) and projects under the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, did not consistently translate into project execution across states. The Tracka report reveals wide disparities in how federal capital projects were implemented, along with a ranking of states based on actual project completion outcomes.
According to the Tracka report, only 52.10 percent of the N10.8 trillion capital expenditure component of the 2024 federal budget was completed, while 23.91 percent of projects were still ongoing as of the review period. The remaining 24 percent were classified as either abandoned, not done, or fraudulently delivered, despite funds being released for their execution. Many of these are projects that Edun has described as a priority because they touch the grassroots, and provide facilities, resources and support.
Joshua Osiyemi, head of Tracka at BudgIT, explained that investigations for the report began in October 2024, following the release of funds for the N10.8 trillion capital component of the N34 trillion federal budget. The tracking exercise was later extended to December 2025 in response to multiple extensions of the 2024 budget implementation timeline.
Tracka tracked a total of 2,760 projects across 30 states during the cycle to arrive at the rankings. The assessment focused on federal government capital projects located in each state, examining how many were completed, ongoing, abandoned, not executed at all, or fraudulently delivered. The resulting breakdown provides a state-by-state picture of how budgetary allocations translated into actual project delivery on the ground.
1. Katsina State
In the number one place is Katsina state with 85.84 percent completion rate. BudgIT Tracka looked at 114 projects valued at N26.79 billion and found that 89 projects were completed, and 17 were ongoing. There was no abandoned project for the period, and only one was tagged fraudulently delivered, with another 7 projects still undone despite disbursements.
2. Rivers State
Rivers state ranked second with 74.26 percent completion rate. The Tracka investigated 82 projects with valuation of N10.87 billion, and found 64 completed, and three still ongoing. One project was tagged abandoned, and 14 were undone.
3. Bauchi State
In the third place is Bauchi with 71.57 percent completion rate. BudgIT tracked 108 projects valued at N10.17 billion, and the findings showed that 61 projects were completed, 26 ongoing, and 9 abandoned. Despite disbursements, 6 projects had not commenced at all, and 6 were fraudulently delivered.
4. Gombe State
Gombe ranked fourth with 66.67 percent completion rate for the 2024 budget cycle. BudgIT tracked 111 projects valued at N54.23 billion, and discovered that 74 projects were completed, while 29 were ongoing. While no project was reported as fraudulently delivered, 8 projects were still undone despite disbursements.
5. Kano State
Kano state had 65.69 percent project completion rate for the period. Tracka looked at 103 projects valued at N15.28 billion, and found 67 projects completed, and 20 ongoing. One project was tagged abandoned, and another 15 undone.
6. Niger State
Niger state is ranked sixth, with 64.49 percent completion rate. Tracka noted that out of the — projects tracked, 69 were completed, while 34 were ongoing. One project was tagged fraudulently delivered, and two undone. BudgIT also flagged budget consistency and reporting accuracy as about 108 of the projects tracked were discovered to be valued at an unusually high rate of N1.27 trillion.
7. Cross River State
Though ranked seventh, Cross River state probably shows the most impressive results. BudgIT tracka reports that 62.5 percent of the projects were completed, and the remaining 37.5 percent are ongoing at different stages of completion. This means no project was undone, abandoned or fraudulently delivered.
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8. Enugu State
Enugu state is ranked eighth, with 61.96 percent completion rate. Tracka tracked 92 projects amounting to N11.56 billion, and the findings show that 57 projects were completed and already operational, while 34 were ongoing. Only one project was undone, and there were no fraudulently delivered projects.
9. FCT, Abuja
The Federal Capital territory, Abuja ranked ninth with 60.23 percent completion rate. BudgIT tracked 98 projects valued at N44.04 billion, and found 53 projects completed, and 22 still ongoing. While no project was tagged fraudulently delivered, 23 projects remained undone despite disbursements.
10. Kaduna State
In the tenth place is Kaduna state with 59 percent completion rate for the period. Tracka investigated 83 projects valued at N97.88 billion, and found 49 projects completed and 15 ongoing. While no project was tagged abandoned, 17 were completely undone, and 2 fraudulently delivered despite strong fiscal capacity.
Bottom performers
At the bottom of the ranking are five states with the lowest rate of completed projects from the federal government’s 2024 budget capital components.
Delta state ranked the lowest with 15.63 percent of projects completed during the period. Ondo state recorded 24.51 percent completion rate, Yobe 29.63 percent, Benue 30 percent, and Adamawa state with only 33.64 percent of projects completed.
For Delta state, BudgIT noted that out of 87 projects valued at N5.10 billion, only 11 projects were completed in the period, while 31 were ongoing. No project was fraudulently delivered, but 45 projects remained undone despite disbursements.
“The primary aim of tracking these projects is to promote transparency, verify fund utilization, assess implementation status, identify abandoned or untraceable projects, and demand accountability for the N7.8 trillion disbursed to improve development outcomes,” Osiyemi explained.
He added that the Tracka report was to help citizens draw a link between budgetary allocations and real-world outcomes, and realise that money allocated does not always equal money spent.
