Ekiti Govt Faces Backlash Over N1.8bn Abuja Lodge, Billions in Contracts Awarded to Permanent Secretaries

A fresh review of Ekiti State’s 2026 proposed budget has raised new concerns about government spending priorities, after it emerged that N300 million has been allocated for the construction of a governor and deputy governor’s lodge in Asokoro, Abuja despite N470 million already spent on the same project between January and September 2025.

This comes on the heels of SaharaReporters’ earlier findings from the Ekiti State Open Contracting Portal, which revealed a N320 million contract awarded for the construction of a guest chalet inside the Government House. The contract, dated October 8, 2025, was curiously awarded to the permanent secretary of the Government House and Protocol Department.

These expenditures add to the previously reported N1.8 billion cost of the Abuja lodge built for Governor Biodun Oyebanji and his deputy.

The revelations land at a time when questions around transparency and fiscal responsibility are growing louder. A deeper examination of Ekiti State’s audited financial statements for 2024 shows that 35 government agencies received zero funding for capital projects, even though they had a combined capital budget of N3.3 billion.

Among the unfunded agencies are the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology; Ekiti State Boundary Commission; Ekiti State Library Board; the Fiscal Responsibility Commission; Ekiti State Housing Corporation; the Teaching Service Commission; and the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital.

Despite these extensive funding gaps, the state government has continued to award high-value contracts many running into hundreds of millions and even billions of naira to unnamed “Permanent Secretaries.”

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