Osun ranked 32nd of 35 states in BudgIT fiscal report as opposition blames Adeleke
- BudgIT's 2026 State of States assessment placed Osun 32nd among 35 states, with Lagos, Enugu and Bayelsa on top.
- The Democratic Leadership Alliance said the result shows Governor Ademola Adeleke has no economic blueprint.
- A governor's aide pointed to withheld local government allocations and Osun's 12th place in the 2024 ranking.
Osun State has placed 32nd out of 35 states in BudgIT's 2026 fiscal performance ranking, and the state's opposition is pointing the finger at Governor Ademola Adeleke.
BudgIT, a Nigerian civic technology organisation that tracks how states manage public money, released the State of States assessment. Lagos, Enugu and Bayelsa came out on top, while Cross River finished last among the states evaluated.
The Democratic Leadership Alliance (DLA) said the result should worry every Osun resident. In a statement on Thursday in Osogbo, its state chairman, Tosin Odeyemi, called the position shameful and an indictment of the Adeleke administration.
"This ranking is not surprising to us. It only confirms what we have been saying, that Governor Ademola Adeleke has no economic blueprint for Osun," Odeyemi said.
He argued that the state has not turned the federal allocations it receives each month into real growth, fiscal discipline or better lives for residents. He also noted that states with smaller allocations, such as Kebbi, Jigawa and Katsina, made the top 10.
What each side says
Odeyemi said the ranking suggests Osun leans on money from the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) without growing its own internally generated revenue. He urged the governor to plug leakages and invest in productive sectors.
The governor's side did not respond directly to the statement. Calls to the spokesperson for the governor, Olawale Rasheed, did not go through and he had not replied to a message as of the time the reports were filed.
However, Olalekan Badmus, Special Assistant to the Governor on New Media, offered a different explanation in a post on a Facebook page. He said allocations to local government areas in the state have not been released since February 2025, forcing the state government to use its own funds to cover obligations due to the councils.
Badmus also said Osun placed 12th in the 2024 ranking, which was reported in 2025, and argued that this shows the government does have a plan.
What happens next
The DLA wants residents to press the state government on how its money is managed, calling the report a wake-up call. The state government has not issued a formal response to the ranking.
For ordinary Osun residents, the debate comes down to services: salaries, roads, schools and health centres that depend on how well the state collects and spends money.
