The Budget Office of the Federation has pushed back against allegations of corruption surrounding the 2026 budgetary allocation to the North East Development Commission (NEDC), dismissing claims that the agency runs a ₦246 billion “salary budget” as false and misleading.
In a press statement issued on Thursday, Director-General of the Budget Office, Tanimu Yakubu, described the claims as a distortion of Nigeria’s budgeting process, warning that misinterpretation of budget figures was being weaponised to suggest massive diversion of public funds.
The controversy erupted after figures showing ₦246.77 billion against the NEDC in the federal budget circulated online, triggering accusations that the commission had allocated about ₦244 billion to personnel costs, with only ₦2.7 billion left for capital projects—fueling public outrage over alleged misuse of funds meant for rebuilding the insurgency-ravaged North East.
Yakubu said the narrative fed into a broader climate of suspicion over corruption in public institutions but insisted it was based on a “fundamental misunderstanding” of how statutory agencies are funded.
“The ₦246.77 billion is not a salaries-only allocation,” Yakubu said. “It is a statutory lump-sum provision, initially presented at an aggregate level, in line with established budget practices under the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework.”
According to him, when agencies submit budgets without full internal economic breakdowns, allocations may temporarily appear under the Personnel Cost heading as a technical placeholder, pending detailed submissions, legislative review, and adjustments during budget execution.
He stressed that this presentation should not be mistaken for actual spending intent or evidence of corruption.
On capital expenditure, the Budget Office explained that the ₦2.70 billion figure cited by critics resulted from a National Assembly decision to rephrase capital votes in the 2025 budget, with about 70 per cent rolled over into the 2026 fiscal year.
Yakubu argued that claims suggesting the NEDC existed mainly to pay salaries ignored project schedules already embedded in budget documents, which reportedly include interventions such as agricultural support, food security programmes, IDP camp reconstruction, borehole projects, orphanage rehabilitation, and security logistics across the North East.
“Selective reading of a single budget line while ignoring accompanying schedules is not analysis, it is a distortion,” he said.
While acknowledging widespread public concern about corruption and misuse of development funds, the Budget Office maintained that personnel costs within a development commission were legitimate, covering engineers, procurement officers, project managers, and monitoring teams required to deliver projects.
The statement also pointed to existing accountability mechanisms, including National Assembly oversight, statutory audits, quarterly budget performance reports, and compliance with the MTEF.
“Genuine public scrutiny is welcome,” Yakubu said, “but misinformation does not serve accountability.”
Despite the official rebuttal, anti-corruption advocates argue that the uproar reflects deep public distrust of development agencies, particularly those operating in conflict-affected regions with long histories of alleged fund diversion.
As scrutiny of the 2026 budget intensifies, the NEDC allocation debate underscores broader questions about transparency, fiscal clarity, and whether government budgeting practices themselves are enabling confusion that fuels corruption allegations.
