A civil society organization, Policy Alert, has criticized Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State for allegedly giving precedence to his office at the expense of the state’s social sector budget implementation in the third quarter of 2023.
In a statement signed by its Programme Officer, Fiscal Reforms and Anti-Corruption, Faith Paulinus, the group expressed concern over the imbalance in expenditure, noting that the Office of the Governor received a total expenditure of N11.84bn, while all other Ministries, Departments, and Agencies in the state combined had only N7.37bn capital release during the quarter.
Policy Alert, which advocates for fiscal and ecological justice in the Niger Delta, conducted a review of the Imo State Third Quarter Budget Performance Report for 2023 (July – September). The organization highlighted a trend indicating consistently high priority given to the Office of the Governor, with N31.5bn already released for the last three quarters of 2023, representing 95 percent of the budgeted N33.1bn for the entire fiscal year.
The group expressed concern that if the current spending trend persists in the last quarter, there may be a risk of the state government engaging in extra-budgetary expenses for the Office of the Governor.
While acknowledging that making expenditures for the Governor’s Office is acceptable if budgeted for, Policy Alert raised alarm over the total neglect of social sectors, emphasizing that no capital release was made for sectors like Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), Education, Health, Youth and Social Development, Women’s Affairs and Vulnerable Groups, Agriculture, and food security during the quarter.
Policy Alert urged the state government to prioritize the social sector in the last quarter of 2023, emphasizing that the negligible capital release of N4.17bn for the entire Social Services Sector across the three quarters (only 14 percent of the budgeted N29.74bn for the year) implies citizens are being deprived of essential social services.
Additionally, the organization noted that recurrent spending in the quarter amounted to N18.76bn, while capital spending was only N7.37bn, urging the Imo State government to reconsider its prioritization of recurrent expenditure over capital expenditure.