Bauchi State’s own Budget Performance Report for the third quarter of 2026 records the breach in the state’s own figures. The security vote, including operations, was provided a total of N17,361,356,500 for the whole of 2026. By the end of June the state had already spent 99.6 per cent of it. In the third quarter alone it spent a further N5,231,846,600 on the same line, and by the end of September the security vote stood at N22,529,426,503.69, which is 129.8 per cent of the full-year provision, overshot by N5,168,070,003.69 with a full quarter of the year still to run.
ReportsNG findings from the report place that line inside a budget running hot across the board. Total expenditure at the end of the third quarter stood at N493,966,944,206.46. Recurrent expenditure had consumed N196,028,130,019.74 of its N308,737,946,780.58 provision, 63.5 per cent, and capital expenditure N297,938,814,186.72 of N568,314,961,119.42, 52.4 per cent. Against that pace, the security vote did not merely keep up. It finished its full-year money by June and kept spending.
The overshoot stands in the report without the approval the law attaches to it. Section 3 of the Bauchi State Appropriation Law 2026 requires the prior approval of the House of Assembly before money is moved between provisions by virement. The third quarter report states in terms that no revision was made to the original approved 2026 budget during the quarter, and it records no virement anywhere in its pages. The five ministries and agencies that had already exceeded their provisions by the middle of the year, Works, Housing and Environment, the Primary Healthcare Board, the Health Trust Fund and Health and Social Welfare, stand unregularised in the third quarter figures, the regularisation the second quarter report promised nowhere carried out.
The Works figures show how far the spending ran past the Assembly’s numbers. The Design and Construction of Duguri Mansur Road Project was provided N1,500,000,000. The report records N12,309,875,084.18 spent on it, 820.7 per cent of the provision, an excess of N10,809,875,084.18 on a single road. The Construction of Sabon Kaura to Birshi Gandu to Yelwa Road was provided N100,000,000 and consumed N1,134,999,093.63, 1,135.0 per cent of what was approved for it. The Construction of Road in Itas Gadau Local Government Area was provided N300,000,000 and consumed N1,535,189,220.41, 511.7 per cent. Duguri Township Roads took N2,034,668,354.60 against a provision of N1,500,000,000.
The Governor’s own office overshot with the rest. The Governor’s Office, under the Secretary to the State Government, was provided N27,204,344,990.55 for the year and had spent N30,316,295,477.93 by September, 111.4 per cent of its provision, N3,111,950,487.38 beyond it. The security vote line sits inside that same office’s book. At the Ministry of Finance headquarters, the purchase of assorted official motor vehicles for commissioners and public office holders, 130 vehicles on the provision of N5,104,872,964.13, had consumed N4,532,133,451.00 by the end of the quarter, 88.8 per cent of the line.
