A review of the budget performance documents of Southwestern states, Ondo and Ekiti, has shown that a sum of N69.5 billion was spent in excess of budgetary allocations.
Review also shows that per data on the budget performance documents, there were no provisions for supplementary budget to cover for the extra amounts spent.
Making reference to documents, a Sahara Reporters report said the total expenditure budgeted by the Ekiti State governor’s office stood at N18.9 billion, however at the end of the third quarter of the year, that is at the end of September, the sum of N28.7 billion was already spent, meaning an extra N9.8 billion was spent.
The state’s Finance and Economic development ministry budgeted N30.7 billion but spent N35.9 billion at the end of the third quarter, this would mean that between January and September, the sum of N5.2 billion was spent extra.
The ministry of employment and wealth creation in the state budgeted to spend N468.8 million but spent N1.270 billion between January and September , meaning the sum of N801.3 million was spent without budgetary allocation.
Ekiti State Electricity Board had a budget of N1.596 billion, however at the end of September, it spent N3 billion, leaving a difference of N1.442 billion which was spent without budgetary allocation.
Another extra N14.5 billion was spent by the state’s ministry of works and transportation. This is as the budget for the ministry in the 2024 fiscal year stood at N19.7 billion while N34.2 billion was spent between January and September.
The same situation was recorded in Ondo state where the Finance Ministry budgeted N62.3 billion but spent N100.2 billion as of September 2024.
This development is despite concerns on budget credibility in the country.
There are also concerns on accountability and transparency in the country.
The development also raises question about budget credibility in the country; experts on different occasions have expressed worry on flouting budgetary provisions by states.
