By Esther Igomu 

The Federal Government, through the National Bureau of Statistics, has stated that in 2023, Nigerians paid 40.14 billion naira in road taxes to state governments.

This is according to an analysis of data from the Internally Generated Revenue report recently published by the NBS.

The figure collected was a 63.36 percent increase from the 24.57 billion naira collected in 2022.

This growth affirmed the crucial role of road taxes in state-level finances across the country.

Lagos State, widely regarded as Nigeria’s economic powerhouse, led all states with a record of 16.74 billion naira in road tax revenue for 2023.

Despite having no record of road tax revenue in 2022, the state accounted for 41.7 percent of the total road tax revenue in 2023.

Ebonyi State showed an exceptional increase of 3,804.32 percent, from 72.95 million naira in 2022 to 2.85 billion naira in 2023.

Other states also reported substantial increases. Rivers State recorded a 270.66 percent rise, collecting 830.01 million naira compared to 223.93 million naira in 2022.

In contrast, several states experienced declines in road tax collections. Enugu State reported a 95.12 percent drop, from 1.1 billion naira in 2022 to 53.47 million naira in 2023.

The NBS further highlighted an overall increase in internally generated revenue across Nigerian states, with total IGR reaching 2.43 trillion naira in 2023, up by 26 percent from 1.93 trillion naira in 2022.