Nigerian Governors’ Offices, Travel Cost States N512.1bn in Six Months
By Sabiu Abdullahi
About more than 30 state governments spent at least N512.10bn on Government Houses, Governors’ Offices, travel and transport in the first six months of 2026, according to an analysis of state budget implementation reports.
The amount was about 4,713 times the combined six-month basic salaries of Nigeria’s 36 governors.
A governor’s official monthly salary of N503,000 amounts to N3.018m over six months. For all 36 governors, the combined salary would be N108.65m.
However, available records showed that N420.01bn was spent under Government House, Governor’s Office and related executive administration heads, while N92.09bn went to travel and transport.
The combined expenditure represented a sharp contrast with the salaries of the governors. Their total six-month basic pay accounted for only about 0.02 per cent of the identified spending on executive offices and official travel.
The figures have renewed attention on the broader cost of maintaining state executive offices, particularly amid recent comments by Delta State Governor, Sheriff Oborevwori, about the remuneration of governors.
Oborevwori had said his monthly salary was N503,000 and noted that some senior civil servants, including permanent secretaries, earned N900,000 monthly.
However, the analysis indicates that the basic salary of a governor constitutes only a small part of the public expenditure associated with the office.
The Government House and Governor’s Office expenditure covers several official costs, including administration, personnel, maintenance, utilities, official residences, protocol, security-related activities and state functions.
The travel and transport category also includes official domestic and foreign trips as well as transportation-related expenses across the state public service.
The figures therefore do not represent the personal income of the governors. Rather, they indicate the wider public resources required to operate the executive structures attached to their offices.
The analysis was based on available first- and second-quarter 2026 Budget Implementation Reports. It used the largest identifiable Government House, Governor’s Office or executive administration expenditure line in each state, alongside the general travel and transport budget head.
Comparable data were available for Abia, Adamawa, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Borno, Cross River, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Enugu, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kogi, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Oyo, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara. Data for Edo, Osun and Rivers were unavailable.
For the corresponding period in 2025, available records showed N465.07bn under Government House, Governor’s Office and similar executive administration heads, while N92.73bn was recorded for travel and transport.
The combined 2025 figure was N557.80bn, which means the comparable first-half 2026 expenditure declined by about N45.70bn, or 8.19 per cent.
Government House and Governor’s Office expenditure accounted for most of the reduction. It fell from N465.07bn in the first half of 2025 to N420.01bn in 2026, a decrease of N45.05bn, or 9.69 per cent.
Travel and transport expenditure remained relatively stable. States recorded N92.09bn under the category in the first six months of 2026, compared with N92.73bn in the same period of 2025. That represents a decline of about N643.66m, or 0.69 per cent.
A development economist, Aliyu Ilias, said the scale of expenditure showed why focusing only on governors’ basic salaries could give an incomplete picture of the cost of political office.
He said executive offices in Nigeria had become expensive to maintain because political office holders exert considerable influence over the structures and funding of institutions under their control.
“Ordinarily, anything that has to do with executive office in Nigeria appears to be much more expensive because they actually direct how it works there. And with the docile state assemblies we have, who always concur, it is clear that our democracy is very expensive because of the way we maintain their offices, and that is why it is very juicy.
“Some even want to go as far as borrowing money to win an election and, when they enter office, they believe they are going to repay the money. So, it is not correct to say that a Permanent Secretary is earning better than a governor when you isolate the governor’s salary without adding the other travel perks and expenses attached to the office.
“The governor just wanted to be sensational. But with the addition you have done, it shows that they are taking the bigger cheque from the spending arising from the high income that the state is generating,” Ilias said.
Kogi Tops Government House Spending
A state-by-state breakdown showed that Kogi recorded the highest identifiable Government House and Governor’s Office expenditure at N65.34bn during the first six months of 2026.
Ogun followed with N45.26bn, while Lagos recorded N45.04bn.
Kano spent N25.87bn, Ekiti N25.22bn and Cross River N23.92bn. Bayelsa recorded N22.99bn, Imo N19.43bn and Enugu N16.20bn.
At the lower end of the available figures, Oyo recorded about N1.95bn, followed by Sokoto with N2.20bn, Kwara with N2.59bn and Abia with N2.78bn.
Kogi’s N65.34bn accounted for more than 15 per cent of the identifiable Government House and Governor’s Office expenditure in the 2026 dataset.
For travel and transport, Plateau recorded the highest identifiable expenditure at N10.11bn.
Lagos followed with N8.23bn, while Taraba recorded N5.16bn. Niger spent N4.45bn, Ekiti N4.41bn, Bauchi N3.75bn and Yobe N3.68bn.
Oyo recorded about N667.52m under the category, while Kano recorded N626.95m.
The records also showed significant differences in spending patterns between states and between the two years.
Kogi’s Government House and Governor’s Office expenditure rose from N51.99bn in the first half of 2025 to N65.34bn in 2026. That represented an increase of about N13.34bn, or 25.66 per cent.
Bayelsa’s spending increased from N14.48bn to N22.99bn, a rise of N8.51bn, or 58.75 per cent.
Cross River recorded an even larger increase, from N9.91bn in 2025 to N23.92bn in 2026. The difference was about N14.01bn, representing 141.37 per cent.
Ekiti, which had no comparable 2025 figure in the dataset, recorded N25.22bn during the first six months of 2026.
Ogun, however, recorded a decline from N49.83bn in the first half of 2025 to N45.26bn in 2026. The reduction was N4.57bn, or 9.17 per cent.
Kano’s expenditure also fell from N28.84bn to N25.87bn, representing a decrease of about N2.98bn, or 10.32 per cent.
Niger’s figure rose from N13.13bn to N14.15bn, an increase of about N1.02bn, or 7.74 per cent.
Lagos recorded one of the largest increases, with its identifiable spending rising from N25.86bn in 2025 to N45.04bn in 2026. The increase amounted to about N19.18bn, or 74.16 per cent.
The Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission is responsible under the Constitution for determining the remuneration of governors and other political office holders.
The existing remuneration framework remains in force, while a broader review is being processed by the relevant authorities.
RMAFC recently said its review of the remuneration of executive and legislative office holders had reached an advanced stage, with proposed legislation expected to be presented to the National Assembly.
The expenditure has also come amid increased allocations to state governments from the Federation Account following the Federal Government’s economic reforms.
Previous Ministry of Finance data showed that N47.25tn was shared through the Federation Account between 2023 and 2025. The amount represented more than half of the N93.13tn distributed over the nine years from 2017 to 2025.
The increase in revenues has intensified scrutiny of how states utilise their additional resources, particularly whether higher allocations are producing improvements in infrastructure and public services.