World Bank Urges Nigeria to Maintain Momentum on Economic Reforms

•FG, states, LGs Share N1.578tn for March

Ndubuisi Francis in Abuja

The World Bank has stressed the need for Nigeria to maintain the momentum on its economic reforms in order to achieve inclusive, job-creating growth.

World Bank highlighted the country’s position as its largest portfolio in Africa, with commitments totalling around $17 billion.

The bank’s advice came as the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) disbursed a total sum of N1.578 trillion, as March 2025 Federation Account Revenue to the federal, state and local governments across the country.

The global development institution applauded Nigeria’s recent Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth of 3.4 per cent — the strongest since 2014 — and commended the government’s progress in stabilising the economy and improving portfolio performance. World Bank’s Vice President for Western and Central Africa, Ousmane Diagana, disclosed these when he led a high-level delegation of the bank to Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr.  Wale Edun, in Abuja, yesterday.

Diagana disclosed that the visit was to reaffirm support for President Bola Tinubu’s economic reform agenda and development priorities.

He called for faster implementation of social protection measures, particularly, targeted cash transfers.

Diagana also welcomed Nigeria’s leadership on the Mission 300 initiative — a pan-African drive to expand energy access to 300 million people.

Edun reaffirmed the federal government’s commitment to implementing the various economic reforms of the Tinubu administration aimed at improving the lives of Nigerians.

He restated the government’s focus on three key areas: improving project delivery speed, scaling up biometric verification for 15 million individuals on the national social register, and accelerating the implementation of the Mission 300 initiative.

The minister announced the establishment of a Compact Delivery and Monitoring Unit and requested a status update to ensure the country stayed on track to set new records in project approval and execution.

According to him, key areas of collaboration with the World Bank include increased agricultural productivity, improved access to finance for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), enhanced digital transformation, and broader financial inclusion.

Meanwhile, disbursement of N1.578 trillion out of a gross revenue of N2.411 trillion for the reference month took place at the monthly FAAC allocation meeting, which took place in Abuja, Tuesday. The meeting was chaired by Edun.

Citing a communique issued at the end of the meeting, separate statements from the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) said the total distributable revenue of N1.578 trillion comprised distributable statutory revenue of N931.325 billion, distributable Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue of N 593.750 billion, Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL) revenue of N24.971 billion, and Exchange Difference revenue of N28.711 billion.

Total deduction for cost of collection was N85.376 billion, while total transfers, interventions, and refunds was N747.180 billion.

Gross statutory revenue of N1.718 trillion was received for the month of March 2025, which was higher than the sum of N1.653 trillion received in the preceding month of February 2025 by N65.422 billion. 

From the total distributable revenue of N1.578 trillion, the federal government received N528.696 billion, states received N530.448 billion, while the local government councils received the sum of N387.002 billion, and a  total sum of N132.611 billion  as 13 per cent of mineral revenue was shared to the benefiting states as derivation revenue.

Also, the N931.325 billion distributable statutory revenue saw the federal government receiving N422.485 billion, state governments received N214.290 billion, and the local government councils getting N165.209 billion.

The sum of N129.341 billion or 13 per cent of mineral revenue was shared to the benefiting states as derivation revenue.

Similarly, for the N593.750 billion distributable VAT revenue, the federal government received N89.063 billion, the states received N296.875 billion, and the local government councils received N207.813 billion.

The sum of N3.746 billion was received by the federal government from the N24.971 billion Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL) while states and local governments got N12.485 billion and N8.740 billion, respectively.

Likewise, from the N28.711 billion Exchange Difference revenue, the federal and state governments received N13.402 billion and N6.798 billion, respectively, while the local government councils received N5.241 billion.

The sum of N3.270 billion (13 per cent of mineral revenue) was shared to the benefiting states as derivation revenue.

Further highlights of the March revenue indicated Petroleum Profit Tax (PPT) and Companies Income Tax (CIT) increased considerably while Oil and Gas Royalty, Electronic Money Transfer Levy (EMTL), VAT, Excise Duty, Import Duty and CET Levies decreased.