Fiscal Breach Uncovered: How Imo under Uzodinma spent N101.5 billion in unapproved funds

In three years, government offices under Governor Hope Uzodimma’s administration in Imo State spent N101.54 billion outside approved budgets.

The figure, drawn from official budget performance documents analysed by PREMIUM TIMES, reveals a consistent pattern of extra-budgetary spending between 2023 and 2025, raising questions about its legality and government priorities.

While billions are spent without legislative approval, key sectors such as education, agriculture, and youth development remain underfunded.

A three-year pattern

A breakdown of the spending shows a steady trend. In 2023, N36.94 billion was spent outside the budget. In 2024, N22.54 billion was spent, while N42.06 billion was spent in 2025. This amounted to N101.54 billion in extra-budgetary spending over three years.

Despite varying sums each year, the story that ties the amounts together is that public funds were spent outside appropriation limits, often by the same offices, with no evidence of legislative approval.

2025, the peak of the surge

In 2025, the most recent year, extra-budgetary spending reached N42.06 billion across 26 government offices.

The excess in 2025 expenditure spanned three categories: personnel expenditure, overhead expenditure and “other expenditure”.

In public finance, such spending can only occur legally if supplementary approvals are obtained from the legislature. However, the reports for the three years indicate that such approvals were not secured, flagging the expenditures as extra-budgetary.

Personnel costs balloon across ministries

In 2025, the overspending began with personnel costs: salaries and related expenses across several government offices.

The Office of the Head of Service, responsible for managing the state’s civil service, had a budget of N6.44 billion but spent N8.3 billion, exceeding its allocation by N1.86 billion.

Interestingly, institutions meant to guard against financial irregularities and issue queries to erring offices were themselves caught in the pattern.

The Office of the Auditor-General for the State, which audits government spending, overshot its N78.2 million personnel budget by N12.65 million.

Similarly, the Auditor-General for the Local Governments exceeded its personnel allocation by N31.62 million, spending N101.93 million against a budget of N70.31 million.

Other agencies also breached their limits.

The Local Government Service Commission overspent by N23.76 million, while the Imo State Independent Electoral Commission exceeded its allocation by N3 million.

Several ministries followed the same pattern.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security exceeded its personnel budget by N67.1 million, while the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation overspent by N26.78 million.

The Ministry of Works and Infrastructure Development spent beyond its personnel budget by N35.27 million, while the Ministry of Budget, Economic Planning and Statistics overspent by N43.04 million.

Within the judiciary, the Judicial Service Commission recorded one of the largest deviations; spending N435.93 million against a budget of N208.67 million, an excess of N227.27 million.

The Customary Court of Appeal overspent its personnel budget by N179.47 million.

The Ministry of Justice also recorded a significant breach, spending N892.3 million against a budget of N554.57 million.

The Ministry of Youth Development and Talent Hunt also posted an expenditure that deviated from the budget: its personnel budget rose from N48.08 million to N190.6 million, an excess of N142.52 million.

Other agencies that overspent include: Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Welfare – excess of N55.94 million, Ministry of Education (Primary and Secondary) – excess of N57.62 million, Ministry of Environment and Sanitation – excess of N23.98 million, Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs – excess of N7.69 million and Imo State Sports Commission – excess of N54.26 million.

Overhead spending explodes

In 2025, while funds disbursed for personnel costs showed fiscal strain, overhead spending by the Imo State Government revealed more aberration.

The Office of the Governor spent N13.77 billion against an approved overhead budget of N5.24 billion. The overspending of N8.52 billion represents an expenditure of 162.6 per cent above the approved amount.

However, the most startling spike came from the Ministry of Information, Public Orientation and Strategy. With an approved overhead budget of N88.2 million, the ministry spent N884.9 million, exceeding its allocation by N796.69 million, which translates to over 1,000 per cent.

Other offices also exceeded their overhead limits: the Office of the Secretary to the State Government overspent by N135.76 million, the Ministry of Finance overspent by N83.6 million, and the Imo State Internal Revenue Service overspent by N130.48 million.

The Ministry of Digital Economy and E-Government recorded one of the largest overhead breaches. It spent N1.42 billion against a budget of N301.86 million, exceeding the approved limit by N1.12 billion.

The Ministry of Education (Primary and Secondary) overspent its overhead allocation by N405.77 million.

In another unusual case, the Ministry of Special Projects recorded N2 million in overhead spending despite having no approved overhead budget.

Breaches in “other expenditures”

In 2025, the largest single deviation occurred under expenses captured as “other expenditures.”

The Ministry of Finance spent N28.83 billion against an approved budget of N3.3 billion, representing N25.52 billion in extra-budgetary spending, the highest amount for the year.

Again, the Office of the Governor overspent in this category, spending N4.01 billion against a budget of N1.86 billion.

The Office of the Secretary to the State Government overspent by N6.93 million.

A baton handed from 2024

In 2024, the pattern held sway: N22.54 billion was spent outside approved limits by five government offices. These are the Office of the Secretary to the State Government, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Youth Development and the Ministry of Education.

2023, the beginning

Analysis of financial documents in Imo State shows that the trajectory of flouting budget approvals for spending began in 2023 under the administration of Mr Uzodimma.

In that year, the state recorded N36.94 billion in extra-budgetary spending across six offices: the Office of the Governor, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Digital Economy and E-Government, and the Office of the Deputy Governor.

The Office of the Governor had the highest expenses – N24.93 billion for both personnel and overhead costs.

While discretionary spending soared, jobs disappeared

The discretionary spending comes at a time when Imo continues to face troubling labour market indicators.

According to the Nigeria Labour Force Survey Annual Report 2023, the latest survey, Imo State ranks among the worst performers in employment indicators.

Imo has the eighth-lowest employment-to-population ratio in Nigeria, at 62.2 per cent.

Imo, which in 2020 ranked as the state with the highest unemployment rate in Nigeria, now ranks as the fifth-highest, with 10.9 per cent, more than double the national rate of 5.4 per cent.

Even more troubling is the number of discouraged job seekers — people who want work but have stopped searching because of repeated failures or a lack of opportunities.

The report says Imo ranks third highest in Nigeria in this category.

Among young people aged 15 to 24, the crisis is equally worrisome.

The report says 23.9 per cent of youths in the state are not in education, employment or training (NEET) – far above the national average of 15.6 per cent.

Discretionary spending under failed promises

Despite worsening socio-economic conditions, some projects designed to improve lives and turn around the state’s education and job indicators between 2023 and 2025 were included in each year’s budget, but they received little or no funding.

In 2023, when N36.94 billion in extra-budgetary spending was recorded, agriculture—a sector with strong potential to create jobs, especially in rural areas—received no capital releases. The Ministry of Livestock Development also received no funding, labour and employment programmes were unfunded, and the entire law and justice sector received zero capital allocation releases.

In 2024, when the government incurred N22.54 billion in extra-budgetary spending, the Ministry of Agriculture received only 4.7 per cent of its N7.96 billion capital budget. Education capital spending stood at just 3.9 per cent of the N23.21 billion budget. Youth development programmes received no funding despite a capital budget of N2.65 billion. The law and justice sector received zero capital releases despite a N4.26 billion budget.

Despite these gaps, unrestricted and administrative spending continued to be prioritised and expanded.

In 2025, N4 billion budgeted for the renovation of 28 secondary schools was not released despite reports highlighting rot in Imo State public schools.

Agriculture recorded just 7.7 per cent capital budget performance out of the N30 billion budget. The report shows that many multi-job-creating programmes, especially in agriculture, remained unfunded.

Discretionary spending is not peculiar to Imo State; a recent investigation by PREMIUM TIMES exposed similar extra-budgetary spending in Edo State.

Government defends spending

When contacted, the Commissioner for Information, Public Orientation and Strategy in Imo, Declan Emelumba, argued that, regardless of the extra-budgetary spending by each office, what was most important was that the overall budget for each year was not exceeded.

“There is also provision for virement in the budget. If we had some additions to items or offices from one budget to another, it is still within the law because we did not spend above the overall budget for the year. All we need is to send a supplementary budget, which we are sending to the House of Assembly,” he said.

Virement is the administrative transfer of funds from one approved budget line item, programme, or account to another within the same financial year.

According to Mr Emelumba, virement allows budget adjustments, and a supplementary budget has been sent to the legislature.

However, when asked when the supplementary budget was submitted and approved, he said he could not immediately provide specifics but insisted that such approval existed.

PREMIUM TIMES found no record of any supplementary budget in 2025 and 2024 on official platforms or in public disclosures. Only 2023 had a revised budget, and the report showed that the government still incurred expenses beyond the approved sums.

Moreover, the extra-budgetary spending was flagged in all three reports. According to the reports, the Budget Performance Reports are prepared by state officials in the Ministry of Budget, Economic Planning and Statistics in collaboration with the Office of the Accountant General and the Ministry of Finance.

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Imo legislature yet to react

In Nigeria’s constitutional framework, state assemblies are responsible for oversight of public spending.

The Speaker of the Imo State House of Assembly, Chike Olemgbe, did not respond to calls and a text message seeking comments.

According to section 19 (2) of the Imo State Fiscal Responsibility Law, 2016, a virement must occur only in exceptional circumstances, must be approved by the House of Assembly, and must not exceed the amount appropriated for the office seeking the virement.

Specifically, the section provides: “The Commissioner may, in exceptional circumstances and in the overall public interest, recommend for the approval of the House of Assembly, virements from sub-heads under heads of account, without exceeding the amount appropriated to such head of account.”

Yet, implementing this law has been different. The excess spending cut across 26 offices in 2025. It also spans across three years, thus eroding the exceptional circumstances noted in the law.

Furthermore, there is no record of public approval by the state assembly.

The Imo Fiscal Responsibility Law provides penalties for violators. Section 41 (13) of the law states, “Any person who contravenes any provision of this Law commits an offence and shall, where no other punishment has been provided, be liable to a term of imprisonment of not less than three months or a fine of not less than N500,000.00.”

A public finance expert says the claim that expenses can be made by any office outside its approved budget does not align with best practice.

Emmanuel Onwioduokit, a professor of Monetary Economics, Public Finance and Development Economics at the Federal University of Uyo, said that the executive does not have the power to spend above what is approved for any item or office in the budget.

“By the laws of the land, you are not supposed to spend any amount of money without appropriation. To engage in extra-budgetary spending is a criminal offence under the Constitution and the Fiscal Responsibility Act, which criminalises this,” he said.

“If the executive wants to spend more than what was approved for an item or any office, they have to go to the House of Assembly and make a requisition for a supplemental budget and get their approval before they can spend more. You do not just spend public money at will without the approval of the people through their representatives in the parliament.”