FG travel spending hits ₦22.6bn as MDAs face duplicate payment claims over estacode and flight tickets.
Federal ministries and agencies have spent a staggering ₦22.6 billion on foreign travel allowances and flight tickets within a three-year window. The spending raises serious questions about accountability in public service.
This travel allowance, known as estacode, is the money given to government officials to cover their expenses when they travel abroad. But the numbers from the government's own payment records tell a worrying story.
Data sourced from Govspend, a civic accountability platform, by Daily Trust shows that 2024 was the biggest spending year. Agencies blew through ₦15.67 billion that year alone. This figure makes up more than two-thirds of the entire ₦22.6 billion spent between July 2023 and early 2026.
In 2023, the total travel bill stood at ₦3.26 billion. By 2025, it slightly increased to ₦3.41 billion. For the early part of 2026, the records show a spending of ₦324.88 million.
A closer look at the data reveals that just a few agencies took the largest share of the travel budget. The Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation led the pack with ₦5.15 billion.
The Federal Ministry of Sports Development followed closely, spending ₦3.56 billion. The National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) also recorded a massive ₦1.80 billion in travel costs.
The Federal Ministry of Finance headquarters accounted for ₦1.04 billion. The National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) in Kuru also made the top spenders list with ₦802.69 million.
Other agencies on the list include the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, the National Commission for Persons with Disability, and Police Formations. The Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF) also featured prominently.
However, the massive spending is only half of the problem. The financial records also exposed alarming cases of duplicate payments across several agencies.
For instance, the Police Formations and Commands paid the same person ₦10 million three separate times. All three transactions carried the exact same details.
The OSGF also processed a duplicate payment of ₦6.6 million. This was for estacode and air tickets paid to one person on the exact same day.
At NIPSS Kuru, auditors spotted repeated transfers adding up to about ₦7.6 million. The reference numbers were only slightly different, suggesting possible payment splitting or reprocessing.
The records show a pattern of agencies pushing through multiple massive payments on the same day. Descriptions like "estacode and air ticket" or "official assignment" were repeatedly used to justify these disbursements.
In several cases, payments ranging from ₦5 million to over ₦20 million were approved within a 24-hour window for similar purposes.
On July 27, 2023, the Federal Ministry of Finance processed several foreign trip payments at once. They paid ₦5.22 million for a trip to Malaga, Spain, and ₦6.88 million for New York. Other entries on that same day ranged between ₦4.95 million and ₦8.1 million.
The Federal Ministry of Women Affairs did the same on August 8, 2023. In a single day, they approved payments of ₦22.9 million, ₦9.84 million, ₦7.68 million, and ₦6.2 million for travel logistics.
The National Commission for Persons with Disability also paid out ₦9.1 million and ₦3.5 million for estacode on July 25, 2023. As these duplicate transactions come to light, calls for stricter oversight on government travel spending continue to grow.
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