By N91,674,369,456.25. That is what Government House, Kogi State, consumed in the first nine months of the year, 76.7 percent of everything voted for it, and it is more money than the state paid every worker on its payroll in the same period.
Findings by SecretsReporters show a Government House whose budget was swollen mid-year from N82,459,939,467 to N119,579,939,467, an extra N37,120,000,000 added after the budget had already been passed.
In the third quarter alone, the house drew N45,708,289,767.13, half of its nine-month take in a single quarter.
Put against the whole state, Government House swallowed 22.3 percent of all spending. Total expenditure across every ministry, department and agency in Kogi stood at N410,536,787,550.40, drawn from a revised state budget of N820,490,585,443, and one address in Lokoja took more than a fifth of it.
The personnel cost of the entire state, the salaries of the whole public service, came to N74,304,021,194.09. Government House beat the wage bill of the state by N17,370,348,262.16.
The money went out faster than it came in. Kogi took in N408,781,422,259.19 in revenue in the nine months, 49.8 percent of what it had budgeted to receive, and spent N1,755,365,291.21 more than came through the door.
The engine of the spending is the overhead vote. It opened the year at N62,980,400,000, was revised upward to N97,245,400,000, and by the end of September N74,259,151,672.95 of it had gone, 76.4 percent of the revised vote, with N31,591,013,482.00 of that spent in the third quarter alone.
Its capital vote moved at the same speed. Government House held N17,025,000,000 for capital spending and burnt N14,626,847,134.14 of it, 85.9 percent, with N13,026,847,134.14 of the capital money going out in the third quarter.
Line 22021001, Refreshment and Meals, was revised to N8,903,060,711 and consumed N6,285,130,336.14 in the nine months, 70.6 percent of the vote, N3,314,349,330.65 of it in the third quarter alone.
Line 22020319, Provision of Welfare (Healthcare, Relief Materials and Alternative Accommodation) for Flood Victims and IDPs, began the year at N1,000,000,000. The revision cut it to N200,000,000. The amount released from it in nine months was nothing, 0.0 percent of the revised vote.
The Emergency Management Agency, the body standing between Kogi and its floods and disasters, held a total budget of N1,971,648,772 and spent N40,346,977.98 of it, 2.0 percent. Its capital vote of N1,583,000,000 drew nothing at all.
The debt bill ran almost to exhaustion. Public debt charges were revised from N16,000,000,000 to N24,500,000,000 mid-year, and N22,385,045,285.71 was paid out in the nine months, 91.4 percent of the revised vote.
Inside that debt bill, foreign principal repayment was lifted from N1,000,000,000 to N5,500,000,000 and N4,812,879,718.71 went out to foreign lenders, while domestic principal repayment consumed N10,679,612,249.12 of its N11,000,000,000 vote.
One line carries the governor's own name. Line 22021011, Ododo Community/Business Outreach, was voted N250,000,000. Nothing was spent from it, 0.0 percent, the money left sitting untouched while the house around it burnt billions.
The purchase of motor vehicles line, 23010105, was revised to N12,546,209,706 for the state and drew N824,964,379.82 in the nine months, 6.6 percent of the vote.
