Nigeria’s Federal Revenue Falls 31% in January 2025, CBN Report Shows

According to a recent report by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Federal Government of Nigeria’s revenue significantly underperformed in January 2025, dropping by over 31% to ₦1.94 trillion compared to December 2024 figures.

The CBN’s provisional data indicates that the federal government’s fiscal operations resulted in a wider fiscal deficit in January compared to the previous month.

Revenue collection declined by 31.35% from December 2024, due to weak income generation from the oil and non-oil sectors. The report notes that the federal government’s retained revenue decreased sharply by 69.19%, while aggregate expenditure fell by 15.51%.

The ₦1.94 trillion gross federation account receipt was 31.35% lower than the previous month and 35.22% below the targeted benchmark.

This revenue shortfall was primarily attributed to reduced receipts from petroleum profit tax, royalties, company income tax, and customs and excise duties.

Despite the overall decline, non-oil revenue remained the dominant source, accounting for 68.67% of gross federation revenue, with oil revenue comprising the remainder.

Non-oil revenue, which totalled ₦1.33 trillion, decreased by 22.18% from December levels due to lower collections from Federal Government Independent Revenue, customs and excise duties, and corporate tax. However, it still exceeded the monthly target of ₦1.23 trillion by 8.25%.

Oil revenue saw a steeper decline of 45.45%, falling to ₦0.61 trillion from December figures, primarily due to reduced petroleum profit tax and royalty collections. This represented a 65.55% shortfall against the monthly target, which the CBN attributed to production issues stemming from ageing oil infrastructure and pipeline disruptions.

From the total ₦1.94 trillion collected, ₦1.42 trillion was distributed among the three tiers of government after statutory deductions and transfers. The federal government received ₦0.45 trillion, state governments ₦0.50 trillion, and local governments ₦0.36 trillion, with ₦0.11 trillion allocated to the 13% Derivation Fund for oil-producing states.

This net disbursement was 17.52% below the previous month’s level and 38.30% short of the monthly target. The federal government’s retained revenue of ₦0.48 trillion was 69.19% lower than the previous period and 70.40% below the monthly target, largely due to reduced receipts from Federal Government Independent Revenue and exchange gain allocations.