While the campaign for the reduction in the cost of governance continues, state governors allocate a humongous amount for the maintenance of their offices in the approved 2024 budget.
In the face of economic difficulties experienced by Nigerians, some of the 36 state governors appear unperturbed by the challenges faced by the people who elected them into office.
Cross River has the highest percentage of its budget allocated to the governor’s office, followed by Kogi, Benue, Taraba, and Ekiti States.
For instance, out of the N296.985 Billion 2024 budget that Governor Bassey Otu signed into law on December 30, 2023, 17.98% of it is allocated to his office. This implies that N53.331 Billion goes into the office of the Cross River governor.
In Kogi, approximately N39,165,011,255.04 out of N258,278,501,339.00, or 15.16% of the state’s 2024 budget, is allocated for the office of Governor Usman Ododo. However, the budget was signed into law by his predecessor, Yahaya Bello, on December 21, 2023.
In Benue State, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia has 13.11% of the state’s budget. The 2024 budget for the state is N225,727,395,206.
Approximately N29.6 Billion goes to Governor Alia’s office, while N28.2 Billion was budgeted for agriculture sector, representing 12.52% of the total budget.
As for Taraba, out of the N313,388,525,661 budget, 11.9% of it goes into the maintenance and expenditure of the governor.
NOTE:
The fact that Cross River, Kogi, and Benue allocate a higher percentage of their state budgets to the governor’s office than Lagos does not diminish the significance of the N66.94 billion, or 2.95% of the budget, allocated to the Lagos governor’s office.
This amount stands as the highest allocation for the maintenance of any governor’s office in Nigeria.
List Approved 2024 Budgets for 36 states in Nigeria
No state in Nigeria has ever crossed the trillion-budget mark except Lagos. The state first signed into law a N1.04 trillion budget in 2018 when Governor Akinwunmi Ambode was in office.
Since then, Nigeria’s commercial state has never had a budget below a trillion naira except in 2019, when Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu signed N873.5 billion into law. In 2020, the budget was N1.168 trillion; in 2021, it was N1.163 trillion, and in 2022, it reached N1.758 trillion.
Here is the list of states according to the size of their 2024 budgets:
- Lagos: N2.26 Trillion
- Akwa Ibom: N849. 97 billion
- Delta: N724.97 Billion
- Ogun: N703.028bn
- Imo: N592.2 billion
- Abia: N567. 2 billion
- Enugu: N521.5 billion
- Bayelsa: N489 Billion
- Anambra: N410.1 billion
- Oyo: N438.4 billion
- Katsina: N454.3 billion
- Kaduna: N458.27 Billion
- Zamfara: N426.56 Bilion
- Ondo: N395.25 Billion
- Borno: N358.7 Billion
- Edo: N342 Billion
- Plateau: N314.8 Billion
- Taraba: N313.38 Billion
- Jigawa: N298.14 billion
- Cross River: N296.985 Billion
- Niger: N613.2 Billion
- Kano: N437 Billion
- Benue: N225.72 Billion
- Kebbi: N250.1 Billion
- Kogi: N258.27 Billion
- Osun: N273.90 Billion
- Sokoto: N270.1 Billion
- Nasarawa: N199. 8 billion
- Ebonyi: N202 billion
- Gombe: N208.064 billion
- Yobe: N216.95 Billion
- Adamawa: N225.8 Billion
- Kwara: N292.74 Billion
- Bauchi: N300.21 Billion
- Ekiti: N159.57 Billion
Percentage of the Budget Allocated for Governors’ Office in 2024 Budget
- Cross River: 17.98%
- Kogi: 15.16%
- Benue: 13.11%
- Taraba: 11.9%
- Ekiti: 11.87%
- Oyo: 11.38%
- Enugu: 11.38%
- Ogun: 9.13%
- Adamawa: 8.92%
- Anambra: 8.63%
- Gombe: 7.88%
- Imo: 7.63%
- Nasarawa: 7.47%
- Edo: 6.92%
- Delta: 6.82%
- Borno: 6.52%
- Ebonyi: 5.59%
- Zamfara: 5.14%
- Akwa Ibom: 4.84%
- Osun: 4.76%
- Kano: 4.34%
- Katsina: 4.26%
- Kebbi: 3.78%
- Jigawa: 3.54%
- Abia: 3.38%
- Lagos: 2.95%
- Niger: 2.31%
- Bayelsa: 2.29%
- Yobe: 2.09%
- Plateau: 1.93%
- Kwara: 1.9%
- Bauchi: 1.02%
- Sokoto: 1%
- Kaduna: 0.83%
- Ondo: 0.48%
Rivers State isn’t included due to the power tussle between the governor and his political godfather, which plunged the state assembly into chaos, affecting the passage of the state’s appropriation bill.
Source:
- Open Source
