Opposition parties in Borno State have demanded an investigation into a reported error in the N4 billion budgetary allocation for the state’s rail project.
Speaking to journalists yesterday, the publicity secretary and the spokesperson of the opposition parties, Aliyu Balarabe, which comprised the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), described the discrepancy as alarming and demanded a probe into how the figure was recorded in the said budget.
LEADERSHIP recalls that a civic accountability group, Tracka, had questioned claims that N2 billion was spent on rail projects in each of the Maiduguri Metropolitan Council and Jere local government area, both reportedly marked as fully completed in official records.
Tracka, in its findings published on 15th June, said field visits conducted in May 2026 showed no evidence of any ongoing or recently completed rail construction or rehabilitation in the affected areas.
In a statement, the state commissioner for Information and Internal Security, Usman Tar, said an internal review conducted by relevant ministries confirmed that no rail project was awarded, funded or executed by the state government during the 2025 fiscal year in the Maiduguri Metropolitan Council and the Jere Local Government Area.
However, in response to the statement, Balarabe of the NDC called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission to conduct a fair and transparent investigation into the matter.
“We see it as a lack of accountability and transparency in governance. There is no way that something as serious as a state budget will have such errors. We are not talking about millions, but billions of naira. If it is an error, where are the funds? he queried.
“This just goes to show that the state government has been doing something like this for a while. But this time around, it was exposed by an alarm. We call on the EFCC and ICPC to fear God and be unbiased in investigating this issue,” he noted.
On his part, the spokesperson of the ADC, Baba Mustapha, described the government’s action as unfortunate.
“It is unfortunate. We saw in the media that four billion naira was budgeted for the railway in my state, and we did not see anything. There should be an investigation, and the issue should not be let die down. This money is public, not private. If they don’t do it now, by the time the government is changed, they will account for it,” he stated.
Residents also expressed disbelief in what the state government described as an administrative error, while pointing out that the issue must be investigated with the utmost seriousness.
A resident of Maiduguri, Hassan Aminu, demanded a re-evaluation of the total money the government claimed it spent in the budget.
“Let us be clear about something. If the government said the inclusion of the four billion naira project is an administrative error. How then do we trust the total expenditure they gave us when it was calculated on an erroneous figure?
“Something is not adding up. I am sure that we arrived at a total figure of what was spent, including this money. Now that it has been declared an error. Where then did the money go?” another resident, on condition of anonymity, said.
