Bizarre: NSC Budgets N2.1b in 2026 for National Sports Festival Already Held in Ogun State
SaharaReporters has uncovered a controversial provision in Nigeria’s 2026 federal budget, where the National Sports Commission (NSC) allocated N2.1 billion to ‘promote and organise’ the 2025 National Sports Festival in Ogun State, an event that was already concluded between May 16 and May 30, 2025.
The festival, formally declared open by Vice President Kashim Shettima, had already received substantial funding in the 2025 fiscal year. The then Federal Ministry of Sports Development budgeted N3 billion for the event, while Ogun State itself committed billions across its 2024 and 2025 budgets.
In 2024, the state spent N2.652 billion on capital expenditures and N36.5 million on overheads, while in 2025 it allocated N285 million for personnel costs and N1.261 billion for capital expenditures.
Despite these heavy expenditures, the NSC’s 2026 budget inexplicably repeats funding for the same festival. Officials have attempted to suggest the allocation may represent a ‘carry-over’ of unspent funds.
However, this explanation collapses under scrutiny: if N3 billion was budgeted in 2025, it would imply that only N900 million was actually spent during the year the festival was held, with the remaining N2.1 billion being carried forward. This contradicts both Ogun State’s documented spending and the reality of the festival’s successful completion.
The controversy deepens given that Enugu State has already been designated as host of the 2026 National Sports Festival, with preparatory allocations of N185 million in 2025 and N129.5 million in 2026.
The duplication of Ogun’s festival in the 2026 budget therefore raises serious questions about fiscal oversight, transparency, and possible misappropriation.
When contacted by SaharaReporters, Ogun State officials denied any involvement in the new allocation. Kayode Ogunmade, Special Adviser to Governor Dapo Abiodun on media and strategy, insisted the state has no plans to host another festival in 2026.
‘We cannot host such a huge event twice in a year,’ SaharaReporters quoted him as saying, adding that Ogun did not incur debts from the 2025 festival.
Asked about the N2.1 billion allocation, Ogunmade told SaharaReporters only the NSC could explain the rationale, speculating vaguely that the commission might be planning other sports-related events in the state.
However, SaharaReporters’ review shows no evidence of such plans, and the budget line remains unexplained.
The inclusion of an already-concluded event in the 2026 fiscal year underscores systemic weaknesses in Nigeria’s budgeting process and raises suspicions of either gross negligence or deliberate misallocation of public funds.
