FLASHING ₦6.7BN WITHOUT COST STRUCTURE IS FISCAL MISDIRECTION — RECURRENT COSTS, NOT OFFICE WALLS, DRIVE GOVERNMENT SPENDING
By AProf. Chukwuemeka Ifegwu Eke
Let us bring clarity and structure into the debate. Waving a single figure — such as ₦6.7 billion for the Governor’s Office — without cost composition breakdown is not financial analysis. It is presentation without structure.
IN PUBLIC FINANCE, STRUCTURE MATTERS MORE THAN HEADLINE FIGURES.
Globally, government budgets are divided into two major cost blocks: capital (fixed/asset costs) and recurrent (operational costs). The fixed structure — buildings, offices, furniture, utilities, maintenance — typically represents a small fraction of total expenditure. The heavy cost drivers are recurrent obligations.
RECURRENT COSTS — NOT OFFICE STRUCTURE — SWALLOW THE LARGE SHARE OF PUBLIC FUNDS.
Recurrent expenditure includes:
salaries and wages
pensions and gratuities
security votes and operations
health and education workforce costs
administrative staff across ministries
overheads and service delivery expenses
arrears and backlog settlements
Under international public finance standards, personnel and pension costs alone often consume 30%–55% of recurrent budgets. That is normal across jurisdictions.
IMF Fiscal Transparency standard:
https://www.imf.org/external/np/fad/trans/code.htm
World Bank Public Financial Management framework:
https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/governance/brief/public-financial-management
So when a critic isolates a Governor’s Office figure and presents it as if it represents luxury overhead or personal comfort spending, without showing the internal breakdown — staff payroll, statutory aides, security logistics, inter-ministerial coordination costs — the analysis is incomplete.
AN OFFICE BUDGET IS MOSTLY PEOPLE COST — NOT WALLS AND CHAIRS.
Modern executive governance also runs on distributed systems — digital files, cabinet workflows, treasury platforms, and field coordination — not merely physical office occupancy. Administrative efficiency today is system-driven, not building-driven.
Digital governance standards confirm this shift:
UN e-Government framework:
https://publicadministration.un.org/egovkb/en-us/Data
The real fiscal question is not “what is the office figure?” The real fiscal question is: what share of total state spending goes to personnel, pensions, arrears clearance, and service delivery? That is where the money actually goes.
RECURRENT OBLIGATIONS KEEP GOVERNMENT ALIVE — THEY ARE NOT WASTE.
Teachers paid, nurses paid, civil servants paid, retirees paid — that is not extravagance. That is governance functioning.
We welcome scrutiny. But scrutiny must follow cost structure, not headline theatrics.
HEADLINE NUMBERS SHOUT. COST STRUCTURES EXPLAIN.
Records will always outlive rhetoric.
