BudgIT Tracka Flags Imo, Lagos, Kwara, Abia, Ogun as Top States for Fraudulent Project Delivery
A comprehensive new assessment by Tracka, the civic monitoring platform of BudgIT, has identified five Nigerian states as the leading hotspots for fraudulent project delivery under the federal government's 2024 budget. The states of Imo, Lagos, Kwara, Abia and Ogun have been flagged for having the highest number of projects that were fraudulently delivered, raising serious concerns about procurement practices and oversight mechanisms in public spending.
Five States Account for Majority of Fraudulent Projects Nationwide
The findings, contained in Tracka's 2024/2025 report titled The People and Government Oversight: Connecting the Dots in Service Delivery, reveal that these five states collectively accounted for more than half of all fraudulently delivered projects tracked across Nigeria. According to the report, these states represented a staggering 57.1% of all such projects nationwide, involving N8.61 billion out of the N15.07 billion disbursed for projects classified under this category during the 2024 budget cycle.
Tracka's analysis covered an extensive 2,760 capital projects across 30 states, all linked to the N10.8 trillion capital component of Nigeria's N34 trillion 2024 national budget. The organization defines fraudulent project delivery to include several concerning practices:
- Diversion of allocated funds for unintended purposes
- Projects reported as completed despite being executed in previous budget cycles
- Projects delivered at standards far below what was approved and funded
- Projects that exist only on paper without physical implementation
State-by-State Breakdown of Fraud Rates
The report provides detailed statistics on each of the five identified states, revealing significant variations in fraud rates and project values:
Imo State recorded the highest fraud rate at 17.43%, with Tracka identifying 19 fraudulent projects out of 109 tracked, valued at N5.70 billion. This concerning performance places Imo at the top of the list for fraudulent project delivery.
Lagos State followed with a fraud rate of 12.73%, recording 14 fraudulent projects out of 110 tracked. This finding is particularly notable given Lagos State's strong fiscal position, with internally generated revenue exceeding N1.26 trillion in 2024. The report describes this as evidence of governance risks persisting despite substantial financial resources.
Kwara State posted a fraud rate of 11.76%, with 12 fraudulently delivered projects identified out of 102 tracked. This performance raises significant concerns about contractor accountability and project monitoring in the state.
Abia State recorded a fraud rate of 10.67%, with eight fraudulent cases identified among 75 tracked projects, while Ogun State completed the top five with a fraud rate of 8.33%.
Systemic Weaknesses in Procurement and Oversight
Speaking on the findings, Joshua Osiyemi, Head of Tracka, emphasized that the scale of fraudulent delivery reflects deep systemic weaknesses in procurement enforcement and monitoring. He noted that making budget data public has not automatically resulted in accountability, with a persistent gap remaining between allocations and what citizens actually experience on the ground.
"The challenge goes beyond the availability of funds," Osiyemi explained. "It fundamentally concerns how projects are executed and verified. Effective oversight must follow public spending from legislative approval through to tangible outcomes in communities."
The report highlights several structural problems enabling these irregularities, including weak legislative scrutiny, limited real-time audits, and restricted access to treasury data. Tracka noted that since January 2025, access to key information, including release data from the Office of the Accountant-General, has become more limited, making independent verification increasingly difficult.
Tracka's Advocacy and Engagement Efforts
To address these systemic gaps, Tracka has undertaken extensive engagement efforts, including sending over 1,200 letters to ministries, departments and agencies, collaborating with anti-corruption agencies such as the EFCC and ICPC, and organizing hundreds of town hall meetings across local government areas to support citizen-led project validation.
The organization is calling for comprehensive reforms, including stricter sanctions against contractors involved in fraudulent delivery, stronger procurement controls, and improved transparency around budget releases. Tracka warns that without these essential reforms, reported completion figures will continue to mask deeper failures in service delivery to Nigerian citizens.
Broader Context of Federal Disbursements
The report emerges against the backdrop of significant federal disbursements to states for infrastructure and security. Between March 2024 and August 2025, state governments and the Federal Capital Territory received a total of N2.45 trillion from the federal government under a special intervention programme financed through non-oil revenue savings.
However, despite the scale of this intervention, concerns have continued to grow about how these funds are being utilized by state governments. The Tracka report underscores the urgent need for improved accountability mechanisms to ensure that public funds translate into tangible development outcomes for Nigerian communities.
As Nigeria continues to grapple with economic challenges and infrastructure deficits, the findings highlight the critical importance of strengthening oversight systems and ensuring that budget allocations result in genuine project delivery rather than fraudulent reporting that undermines national development efforts.
