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By Daniel Adaji
Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) under President Bola Tinubu’s administration spent over N15.6bn on estacode allowances between January and December 2024.
This is according to records obtained by Pointblanknews.com on Tuesday.
The estacode payments, which are meant to cover foreign travel expenses for government officials, were disbursed across various MDAs, with the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation leading the chart at over N5.1bn.
It was followed by the Federal Ministry of Sports Development with N3.56bn, and the Federal Ministry of Finance with nearly N895m.
This spending happened amid growing public scrutiny over government expenditure and calls for fiscal responsibility. Yet, officials continued to participate in international events, training programmes, and policy meetings across the globe.
One description read, “Part Payment of 14 days Estacode allowance, full air ticket, terminal to participate in 4th circle of the Universal Periodic Review of the Human Rights Council 45th session in Geneva from 22nd January to 2nd February, 2024.”
Another stated, “Estacode and air ticket to & fro, airport taxi to Accra Ghana to attend the 2024 specially designed program on strategic policy implementation mastery for executive leadership organized by Astowise Limited. Hon. Minister.”
Several transactions were labeled as “Estacode, air ticket, and course fee to attend international programs” with costs running into tens of millions per individual trip.
Other notable spenders included the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) and the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, with expenditures of N558m and N425m respectively.
Some estacode payments even covered retrospective activities, such as a line item which read, “Payment of 2023 balance payment of estacode allowance, ticket and terminal to participate in the 14th international conference of national human rights institutions scheduled to hold in Copenhagen, Denmark.”
The data reveals a pattern of sustained foreign engagements, training, and meetings by MDAs, despite Nigeria’s economic challenges and pressure on the naira.