By Pascal Ibe

Claim

An X user, @funshographix has claimed that Oyo State generated more VAT than the entire states in the South East.

Verdict

This claim is Correct. According to the latest data released by Agora Policy and published by credible news organizations in Nigeria, the five Southeastern states in Nigeria collectively contributed N101.09 billion to the country’s  VAT pool in 2024, while Oyo State from Southwest singlehandedly contributed: N272.41bn.

Full Text

An X user, @funshographix has claimed that Oyo State generated more VAT than the entire states in the South East.

Oyo State is one of the six states in Nigeria’s Southwest.

Value-added tax (VAT) refers to a consumption tax on goods and services levied at each stage of the supply chain where value is added. As such, a VAT is added from the initial production of goods and services to the point of sale. The amount of VAT the user pays is based on the cost of the product minus any costs of materials that were taxed at a previous stage.

@funshographix wrote, “Oyo state doesn’t have access to the sea or once a former capital of Nigeria. Yet it generated more VAT than the entire states in the South East.

The post generated over 176k views and more than 2.1k likes on X.

Another user, @Mayiegunofmala1 posted a photo of outdated buildings and said, “Ibos (Igbos)should be grateful to those people living in these houses for feeding them.”

Oyo State VAT contribution: 279bn 

“The whole of SE region: 100bn.😀

In 2024, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) were responsible for VAT collections.

Verification

FACTWATCH Nigeria did a keyword search, “VAT 2024 pool account,” in Google search and found data compiled by Agora Policy, a Nigerian think tank committed to finding practical solutions to national challenges. 

The data was published by an equitable news organization on 23rd January 2025.

According to the data,  Lagos contributed 54% of the total non-import VAT, while 33 states collectively accounted for 19%.

Out of the N6.72 trillion total VAT generated, FIRS collected N5.13 trillion, accounting for 76.3% of the pool, while NCS contributed N1.59 trillion, representing 23.7%.

Official figures revealed that VAT revenue for 2024 increased by 85%, rising from N3.64 trillion in 2023 to N6.72 trillion.

While the Southeastern states contributed relatively little to the VAT pool, the region received approximately 3.38 times their contributions.

The six Southwestern states in Nigeria collectively contributed N3.11 trillion to the country’s Value Added Tax (VAT) pool in 2024 and received N849.7 billion.

This contrasts with the Southeastern states.

Oyo State singlehandedly contributed: N272.41bn and was allocated N116.83bn.

See similar publication of this here.

Conclusion

An available data has indicated that the claim that Oyo State generated more VAT than the entire Southeast states in Nigeria. Therefore, this claim is CORRECT.