![Governor Francis Nwifuru of Ebonyi State [PHOTO CREDIT: Rt. Hon. Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru]](https://i0.wp.com/media.premiumtimesng.com/wp-content/files/2024/11/454494545_942533437887115_7948055568891854864_n.jpg?fit=2048%2C1364&ssl=1)
Governor Francis Nwifuru of Ebonyi State has directed all government officials who are in possession of state-owned vehicles to physically present them for inspection.
Mr Nwifuru gave the order in a memo signed by the Secretary to the Ebonyi State Government (SSG), Grace Umezurike, which was forwarded to PREMIUM TIMES on Thursday.
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Although the memo had no date, a top official of the Ebonyi State Government told this newspaper that it was issued on Wednesday.
The governor’s orders
The memo mandated that every official vehicle – whether classified as official, utility, or both – must be brought to the SSG’s office premises for verification.
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According to the schedule released for the exercise, all principal officers and commissioners are to present their vehicles on Friday 8 August 2025, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
“Senior Special Assistants (SSAs) and Permanent Secretaries are scheduled to present theirs on Saturday, August 9, 2025, at the same time and venue,” the memo read in part.
Special Assistants, officials from Boards, Commissions, and other government offices were billed to present their vehicles on Monday, 11 August 2025, according to the memo.
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The memo further indicated that Governor Nwifuru has specifically requested that, at the end of the inspection, a list of officials who failed to present their vehicles should be forwarded to him.
Why the governor’s order
Although no reason was given for the directive.
However, PREMIUM TIMES gathered that the directive may not be unconnected to reports that many of the officials have sold their official vehicles without permission.
An Ebonyi-based broadcast journalist and public affairs analyst, Godfrey Chikwere, claimed in a Facebook post on Thursday that 70 per cent of the state appointees have sold their vehicles.
“If the governor treats this as usual after this public announcement, then they won’t take him seriously again,” Mr Chikwere said, apparently in response to the directives in the memo.
The public affairs analyst urged Mr Nwifuru to sack anyone who fails to present the vehicle for inspection.
“Weakness is nothing but regular forgiveness without remorse from the forgiven.
“One (government official) from Ishielu LGA sold his own (vehicle) before receiving it,” he stated.
He attributed the misuse of the vehicles to poor orientation of the government officials upon their appointment.
“If they (the officials) had undergone serious and intentional training and seminars before resuming office, they would understand the difference between personal and public property.”
Appropriation of billions for govt vehicles
Mr Nwifuru came under fire in 2024 a media report claimed that the governor spent over N8.2billion without budgetary allocation for purchase of luxury vehicles for himself and other government officials between January and September of that year.
The report alleged that the purchase was done through the office of the SSG and tagged “Purchase of 20nos of official vehicles for the present administration.”
The vehicles, according to the report, were allegedly bought for the sum of N8.2 billion even as the approved budget by the Ebonyi State House of Assembly for that item was N1 billion.
But the Ebonyi State Government later refuted the allegations.
In a statement on 3 December 2024, the then-Commissioner of Information in the state, Jude Okpor, said, contrary to the report, the expenditure on the vehicles was budgeted.
Mr Okpor acknowledged that N1 billion was initially budgeted for each vehicle, explaining that the cost later increased due to global economic crunch and inflation.
“As a result, the executive approached the legislature for a supplementary budget, which covered, among other things, the variation in the cost of the official vehicles.
READ ALSO: Ebonyi governor lifts suspension on 81 govt officials
“The procurement process was initiated, and the supplementary budget have long been passed and the vehicles supplied while other items therein are being expended,” he had said.
The then-information commissioner further explained that the state’s budget implementation report “picked” the initial budget as it were because the state operates an accrual basis of accounting and not cash method.
“The supplementary budget will be uploaded accordingly in the 4th quarter budget implementation report of the state,” he assured.
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