In the first six months of 2026, Ogun State Government spent N1.06 billion on special days and celebrations while critical agencies, including those responsible for emergency response, transport safety and healthcare, received no funding, FIJ has found.
According to the state’s Q2 budget performance, Governor Dapo Abiodun’s administration has also spent N9.9 billion on welfare packages and N1.2 billion on honoraria and sitting allowances for political office holders, legislative members and other state officials.
The budget report reveals that Ogun has spent nothing on the infrastructure of its State Emergency Agency, Boundary Commission, Agency for the Control of AIDS, the Gateway Response Squad, for security responses and many others. This is despite approved allocations for these agencies and commissions running into billions of naira.
It further shows that many departments under the Ministry of Agriculture have not received funds even though billions of naira were approved in the 2026 budget.
Key agencies like the one for emergencies, control of AIDS, and responses have received no funding since the year began.
Also, under the Ogun State Ministry of Transportation, crucial departments such as the state’s safety advisory councils on things like vehicle inspection, traffic compliance and enforcement have not been funded with any money.
The same goes for the Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Mineral Resources, which got approvals of N2.2 billion and N239 million, respectively.
An excerpt of the document showing the ministries have received no money.
The Ministry of Health got an approval of N145 billion. However, the Ogun State Primary Health Care Board, the Medical Emergency Preparedness and Response Project and the Ogun State Alternative Medicine Board have all received no allocations at all.
FIJ found that refreshments and meals, honoraria, sitting allowance and welfare packages have been steadily funded by the same state government.
For instance, Abiodun’s government has spent N9.9 billion of taxpayers’ money on welfare packages in only six months. This is 47.8 per cent of its budgetary allocation.
The cost of honoraria for political office holders, legislative members and other state officials in only six months is also N1.2 billion.
The cost of celebrating special days and celebrations expended by the state government is N1.06 billion at 25.8 per cent budget performance.
Meanwhile, the local scholarship scheme by the state government, which got an approved budget of only N30 million, hasn’t been prioritised for any funding.
FIJ has continued to report on how state governments underfund critical sectors of their economy.
On August 12, FIJ reported that Nasir Idris’ government in Kebbi State had funded his own office with N2.8 billion of taxpayers’ money. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, which had the largest capital allocation among the agencies listed in the same report, had spent nothing from its N92.76 billion capital budget by the end of June.
