SAHARA REPORTERS
Findings by SaharaReporters have revealed that five northern states in Nigeria spent a total sum of N2,657,945,861(Two Billion Six Hundred Fifty-seven Million Nine Hundred Forty-five Thousand Eight Hundred Sixty-one Naira) between January and March 2024 on international trips without attracting any foreign investments.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Kano, Katsina, Kwara, Sokoto and Borno were among the 34 states in Nigeria that failed to attract foreign investment in the first quarter of 2024.
Only Lagos, Abuja and Ekiti received foreign investments totaling $3.38 billion, with Lagos accounting for $2.78 billion.
Lagos stands undisputed in attracting foreign investments. In Q1 2024, the state received $2,782.41 million. This is a big increase from its total of $2,503.44 million in 2023.
The Federal Capital Territory saw reduced investments, with $593.58 million in Q1 2024. This follows a total of $1,170.00 million in 2023, showing the need for Abuja to up its game in attracting foreign capital.
Checks on the Kano State 2024 budget performance report for the first quarter of 2024 revealed that the government of Abba Kabir Yusuf spent N599,250,861.00 on what was termed ‘International Travel & Transport Training’ and another N414,126,000.00 was for ‘International Travel & Transport, Others,’ totalling a sum of N1,013,376,861.00.
The Kwara State Governor, who is the Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, has spent N724,470,725.00 from the state treasury to embark on several international excursions during the first 90 days of the year without bringing any investment into his state.
Katsina State’s 2024 budget performance report disclosed that N288,566,780.00 was used to finance foreign trips for the governor, Dikko Umar Radda while Borno State spent a cumulative sum of N427,840,495.65 for the same purpose within the same period.
The Sokoto State Government, according to the budget performance report, also spent the sum of N203,691,000.00 on international travel and training.
Unproductive spending like this is why many Nigerians are agitating for a reduction in the cost of governance.
In May, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) filed a lawsuit against Nigeria’s 36 governors and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Mr Nyesom Wike “over their failure to account for the spending of trillions of FAAC (Federal Account Allocation Committee) allocations collected by their states and the FCT since 1999.”
The suit followed reports that the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) disbursed N1.123 trillion to the federal, state, and local governments for March 2024. They shared N1.208 trillion in April. States collected N398.689 billion in March while they collected N403.403 billion in April.
In the suit numbered FHC/ABJ/CS/666/2024 filed at the Federal High Court, Abuja, SERAP is asking the court to “direct and compel the governors and Mr Wike to publish spending details of the FAAC allocations collected by their states and the FCT since 1999 including the list and locations of projects executed with the money.”
SERAP is also asking the court to “compel the governors and Mr Wike to invite the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission [EFCC] and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission [ICPC] to probe any allegations of corruption linked to the allocations and to monitor how the money is spent.”
In the suit, SERAP argues that “Nigerians ought to know in what manner public funds including FAAC allocations, are spent by the governors and FCT minister.”
THIS STORY FIRST APPEARED IN SAHARA REPORTERS
