The Lagos State governorship candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Funso Doherty, has challenged fact-checkers at the Lagos Governorship Debate over their initial assessment of his claim that the state generates more internally generated revenue (IGR) than 31 other states combined.

Mr Doherty demanded an apology, insisting that his statement was supported by figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

In a post on his X account on Sunday, he said Lagos generated ₦1.77tn in IGR in 2025, compared with the combined ₦1.73tn generated by 31 other states.

“The debate fact-checkers called me out during the debate but they got it wrong.

“Precisely as I said in my opening statement, according to the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics data, Lagos does earn more IGR than 31 states combined: N1.77tn vs N1.73tn (NBS, 2025).

“An apology is in order I believe,” he wrote.

Mr Doherty also shared a breakdown of the revenue figures for the states, citing the NBS microdata portal as his source.

The disagreement followed Sunday’s Lagos Governorship Debate, organised by the Nigeria Debate Consortium, comprising The PUNCH, Channels Television, TVC News, TheCable and Vanguard.

The debate featured governorship candidates Obafemi Hamzat of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), Funso Doherty of the NDC and Deji Doherty of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

During his opening remarks, Mr Doherty argued that Lagos’s major challenge was not a lack of financial resources but the failure of successive administrations to translate the state’s revenue into improved living conditions for residents.

He cited the revenue comparison to question the quality of public services, particularly healthcare and education, despite Lagos’s substantial earnings.

Fact-checkers’ figures support Doherty’s claim

The NBS 2025 IGR report showed that Lagos generated approximately ₦1.77tn, the highest among Nigeria’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

The combined IGR of all states and the FCT stood at approximately ₦5.15tn.

However, a breakdown published by the Nigerian Fact-checkers’ Coalition put the combined revenue of the 31 states in Mr Doherty’s comparison at approximately ₦1.574tn, rather than the ₦1.73tn he cited.

The coalition subsequently rated his central claim that Lagos generated more IGR than 31 other states combined, as correct.

The figures therefore support his main argument, although the combined revenue figure he quoted for the 31 states differs from the coalition’s calculation.