Several ministries and agencies under the present administration of President Bola Tinubu, have spent no less than N1.8bn on air tickets, estacodes, and duty tour allowances between July and September 2024, according to data sourced from GovSpend.
Some of the ministries and agencies include the Federal Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Police Affairs, the Ministry of Youth Development, the Ministry of Women Affairs, the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation, the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.
Others include the Technical Aid Corps, the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission.
Checks by our correspondent showed that the ministries and agencies spent N755,884,949.44 on Duty Tour Allowances and another N1,044,858,941.48 on estacodes and air tickets and foreign trips, totalling N1,800,743,930.92 spent between July and September 26, 2024.
Among the biggest spenders are the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, which spent N322m; the Ministry of Finance with a total spending of N187.2m; the ICPC with N150m; and the Ministry of Petroleum Resources with N108m all in the space of three months.
Recall that the President, Bola Tinubu, had placed a three-month ban on publicly-funded trips for Ministers and heads of agencies beginning April 1 2024, in a letter dated March 2 2024, from the Office of the President’s Chief of Staff.
The letter explained that the ban aimed to reduce the rise in expenses incurred by MDAs on international travel and ensure that the ministers and heads of agencies were focused on their respective mandates.
While the ban period has elapsed, our correspondent found that some ministries incurred as much as N21m in expenses for travel tickets and estacodes within days.
