Despite evidence, Akwa Ibom govt denies receiving N653.6 billion revenue

Despite glaring evidence, Akwa Ibom State Government has refuted a media report that said it has received N653.6 billion as revenue in the first three months of 2025.

The State Commissioner for Information, Aniekan Umanah, made the rebuttal in reaction to a publication by a newspaper in the state.

The newspaper, theMail in its Tuesday edition ran a story with a banner headline, “Akwa Ibom Govt gets N653.6 billion revenue in first three months of 2025”. The report said the government has spent 199.6 billion.

Citing the state government’s 2025 first quarter Budget Performance Report (BPR), the newspaper provided details on how it arrived at N653.6 billion as the total revenue and N199.6 billion as the total expenditure of the state within the said period.

Of the N653.6 billion, the newspaper gave a breakdown that the state government has an “opening balance of N375.69bn brought forward from the revenue remnant of the 2024 fiscal year.”

The state government, the newspaper reported, has received “N261.56bn revenue from the Government share of Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC)” and “N16.31bn from the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR)”

It also reported an expenditure of “N199.6bn with a breakdown of N65.73bn on recurrent expenses and N133.9bn on capital expenditure.”

Report erroneous, says Akwa Ibom Govt

In the statement, the state government described the publication as “false claims, misleading and inaccurate,” and urged the public to disregard it.

Mr Umanah, the commissioner for information, said the report was not only “false but reflects a gross misrepresentation of the state’s financial position”.

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However, the commissioner did not provide any figure as revenue and expenditure for the said period to counter the paper’s report.

“The figures quoted are inaccurate, misleading, and entirely detached from verified financial records,” Mr Umanah said, discrediting the report whose data is obtained from the Akwa Ibom State Government’s website.

“The publication appears to be the product of a flawed interpretation and a lack of basic understanding of public finance, particularly the concept of carry-over balances from the previous year, which are standard components of budgetary and treasury frameworks.

“It is unprofessional to misinform the public through unchecked extrapolations and a wrong reading of complex financial documents,” Mr Umanah said, urging the public to disregard it and continue to support Governor Umo Eno.

‘We stand by our report’ – theMail

Reacting to the Akwa Ibom State Government’s rebuttal, theMail, in a statement on Wednesday said it stands by its report.

“It is very surprising and shameful, to say the least, that the Government of Akwa Ibom State came out to dispute the data published in its own report yet disappointingly failed to provide the supposed correct revenue and expenditure profile of the State,” said Mr Simon, an editor with the newspaper.

The quarterly BPR of the sub-nationals in the federation is published two weeks after every quarter to promote transparency in public finance.

The state government, which in the past adhered to this deadline, only published that of the first quarter of 2025 on 12 May, prompting theMail to suspect that something was wrong.

“Surprisingly, even after the late publication, the Government of Akwa Ibom State conspicuously left behind a salient part of the report, which would aid accountability. For instance, the Budget Performance Report, which is usually a 46-page report capturing how each Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) generated revenue (Revenue by Administrative classification), Revenue by Economic Classification, Expenditure by Administrative classification- personnel, Overhead, and Capital, among other imperatives, were all exempted.

“The State only published a three-page summary of the report, leaving citizens in the dark on where the money actually went to.

“Seeing the government of Akwa Ibom State come out to cry foul on why our newspaper published the financial portfolio of the State, coupled with its decision to hold back a detailed report from the public, we are forced to ask: What really is Akwa Ibom State Government trying to hide in its finances,” the newspaper said.

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Findings by PREMIUM TIMES

The state government BPR is a publication from the Budget Office, an agency under the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning.

PREMIUM TIMES checks on the 2025 first quarter report obtained from the agency’s website indicate that the state government received N653.6 billion, representing 68.4 per cent of its projected revenue for the 2025 fiscal year, and has spent N199.6 billion within the first three months in 2025 as reported by theMail.

However, it must be noted that of the N653.6 billion, N375.6 billion, representing over 50 per cent, is the opening balance, the amount carried over from the 2024 budget, which is yet to be audited.

Since budget performance reports are not audited financial statements of governments, there are likely to be changes in figures when an audited account is released to the public.