Abia’s Q3 2025 Financial Report: Unanswered Questions, Conflicting Figures and Rising Transparency Concerns By Obinna Oriaku
The recently published Abia Q3 2025 Financial Report, reviewed by Progressives Abia Youth, has stirred a fresh wave of concern across the state. Although the sectoral breakdown appears detailed at first glance, a deeper look reveals figures that sharply contradict what is obtainable on the ground and what the government previously claimed.
The report indicates that Abia received a total revenue of 91 billion naira in Q3, a noticeable drop from the 114 billion recorded in Q2. This reduction confirms that the state enjoyed substantial non-FAAC inflows in Q2, which pushed the earlier figure upward. Yet Q3 was a period marked by some of the highest FAAC disbursements nationwide, including 1.9 trillion naira in July, 2.3 trillion naira in August and 2.1 trillion naira in September. During this same period, Abia’s internally generated revenue reportedly increased from 13.3 billion to 18 billion naira.
Despite these realities, the state government continues to deny that Abia received an average of 38 billion naira monthly between April and June. For clarity, Abia received 84 billion naira in Q1 which translates to about 28 billion monthly. In Q2, the figure rose significantly to 114 billion naira which is about 38 billion monthly. In Q3, the total revenue of 91 billion naira translates to 30.3 billion monthly.
These inconsistencies have triggered public doubt, especially because the same government has been busy discrediting a financial report prepared and signed by its own authorized officials. Many Abians are now asking why states such as Enugu and Imo have visible landmark projects funded from these same revenues, while Abia citizens are expected to celebrate patchwork road repairs. Officials insist on being judged using the standard of past administrations, even though current economic realities are far more favourable.
At the center of these concerns is a critical fact that must be emphasized. SEFTAS financial reports do not include local government allocations, yet these allocations are received and controlled by the state government. This means that what the government presents as its total revenue is an incomplete picture. When Abians are told that the state received 91 billion naira, the natural question becomes: what happens to the additional resources the public never sees, especially the local government funds that SEFTAS does not track?
It is therefore legitimate to ask what the Abia State Government does with over N30 billion it receives monthly from FAAC alone, excluding the 17 local governments allocations that average about N11 billion monthly. When both figures are combined, Abia’s total monthly inflow rises to well over 40 billion naira, making the lack of transparency in the state’s financial reporting even more troubling.
Suspicious patterns in the expenditure report further heighten public concern. A recurring tactic observed under the present administration is the continuous shifting and renaming of expenditure sub-heads in ways that appear designed to obscure questionable spending. The previously controversial Security Vote, which recorded nearly 1 billion naira, and the much-criticized 300 million naira Government House feeding bill, which triggered public backlash and was highlighted by Reuben Abati on Arise TV, have suddenly vanished from the report.
These same classifications have now reappeared under the vague title “Research and Development,” an expenditure line that has consumed more than 34 billion naira since 2023 without any clear or measurable output.
The Q3 2025 sectoral analysis reveals even more troubling inconsistencies:
1.)14.4 billion naira for Land and Housing:
This allocation raises serious concerns. Was it used for land compensation? If so, who were the beneficiaries between July and September? Abia currently has no visible housing project to justify this spending. The state also cannot identify the 6.7 billion naira recreational facility reportedly funded since Q3 2023. Furthermore, the claim that 82 billion naira has been spent on repairing public schools from January 2024 to September 2025 does not align with what is physically observable across the state.
2.) 9.1 billion naira for Transport: A proper breakdown is overdue. Is this related to the electric bus project that mysteriously increased from 20 buses to 100 without any public justification? The delivery deadline has passed. Abians deserve to know how many buses were purchased and at what actual cost.
3.) 13.2 billion naira for Education in Q3: This continues the trail of the controversial Smart School project, which has reportedly consumed 82 billion naira from 2024 to September 2025. Yet classroom conditions remain largely unchanged, and the supposed transformation of public schools remains largely invisible.
4.) 643 million naira for the Abia Policy Innovation Center, while Agriculture received nothing: Within only two months, the Center spent 643 million naira, with youth logistics for a three-week programme taking a major share. Meanwhile, Agriculture continues to receive mere 394 million as an independent sub-head, even as food inflation worsens. At the same time, 1 billion naira was allocated to para-basketball and para-badminton under the sports budget.
5.) 139 million naira for Local Government pensions: This raises yet another red flag. Including Local Government pension liabilities in the state’s financial report is a distortion of basic public-sector accounting rules. Worse still, many elected LGA chairmen reportedly do not even know their monthly allocations. This confusion persists precisely because SEFTAS does not capture Local Government funds, allowing the state to receive and administer them without transparency.
When all these inconsistencies are taken together, the picture that emerges is one of financial opacity and questionable governance. The Abia Q3 2025 Financial Report is riddled with vague classifications, unexplained reallocations and figures that do not correspond with developments on the ground.
What Abia needs now is honest accounting. Citizens deserve transparent and verifiable financial disclosures, not conflicting numbers and shifting expenditure heads that raise more questions than answers. Until the government provides clear explanations and reconciles these contradictions, the credibility of its financial reporting will remain under serious doubt.
Abians are not asking for too much. They simply want the truth. The questions raised here are legitimate, and the people await the government’s response.
© Ekwedike
