The 2026 federal budget has come under fire following revelations that it allocates N5.85 billion for the construction of palaces in locations where no recognised chiefdom, kingdom, or emirate exists. This finding, unearthed by civic organisations, highlights a widening disconnect between government priorities and the needs of citizens, especially as critical sectors like health and education remain underfunded.
Budget Allocations for Phantom Palaces
According to available details, a total of N22.15 billion has been earmarked for 106 projects involving the construction, renovation, rehabilitation, furnishing, and electrification of traditional rulers' palaces across Nigeria. These projects are spread across 45 Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), despite the fact that many of these agencies have no statutory responsibility for traditional institutions or palace infrastructure.
Investigations by civic organisations revealed that 11 palace projects worth about N5.85 billion lacked clearly identified locations, making it virtually impossible for citizens, auditors, and oversight institutions to monitor their implementation. Analysts have questioned the rationale behind assigning palace projects to agencies whose mandates bear no relationship to traditional institutions, complicating oversight and creating fertile ground for abuse.
Irony of Funding Priorities
The irony becomes more disturbing when genuine government institutions continue to struggle for funding. The Federal Ministry of Health disclosed that only about seven per cent of its approved capital allocation was eventually released last year. While deserving MDAs are starved of funds, phantom palace projects appear to flourish.
These allocations are, in many respects, pocket palaces – budgetary creations designed not to serve communities but to facilitate the movement of public funds into private hands. Money intended for non-existent projects finds its way into Bureau de Change outlets, is converted into foreign currencies, and ultimately ends up financing private wealth, rather than public development.
Systemic Corruption and Lack of Accountability
For many Nigerians, these allocations are not simply examples of poor judgment; they reveal the scale of institutionalised corruption and the absence of meaningful scrutiny. Increasingly, citizens view the budget process as an annual jamboree in which public resources are negotiated for private benefit, rather than national development.
Lawmakers who should exercise oversight are often perceived as participants in the very process they are expected to police. The controversy surrounding these palace allocations has emerged at a time of severe fiscal constraints and competing national priorities. Nigeria is borrowing heavily to finance its budget, while grappling with mounting debt obligations.
Context of Governance Failures
Coming amid the raging controversy surrounding the so-called Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), the questions over its promoter, Mr Adeniyi Adeyemi Mathew, and the wider scandal involving its operations and the alleged involvement of the President’s Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, these budget revelations only reinforce public concerns about systemic governance failures.
Nigerians have long joked about politicians who campaign by promising to build skyscrapers in the sky, construct bridges where there are no rivers, and deliver grand projects that never materialise. The allocation of billions for palaces in non-existent kingdoms represents another manifestation of this political culture. It is yet another reminder of the budget-padding scandals that once dominated national discourse.
Impact on Public Services
A budget that finds billions for palaces in places that do not exist, while hospitals remain underfunded, schools deteriorate, roads collapse, and millions struggle to survive, says far more about our priorities than any official speech ever could. The billions allocated for imaginary palace projects could instead transform lives if invested in healthcare, education, roads, water supply, or social protection programmes.
Such spending benefits only a privileged few, while reinforcing the perception that government exists primarily to protect elite interests. The obvious question therefore remains: If some of these kingdoms do not exist, who exactly are these palaces being built for?
Ghost Workers and Fraud
Have we not had enough ghosts in our public institutions? Only recently, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) uncovered 908 suspected ghost workers across about 50 federal MDAs and recovered approximately N942 million in fraudulent salary payments. The discovery served as yet another reminder that payroll fraud remains deeply entrenched within Nigeria’s public service.
The controversy surrounding the PFIPC, the persistence of ghost workers, and the recurring questionable budget allocations all point to the same underlying problem: a governance culture that often projects the image of a wealthy nation, while millions of its citizens endure poverty and deprivation. The country’s wealth increasingly appears concentrated in the hands of a privileged minority, while the majority bear the burden of economic hardship.
Zainab Suleiman Okino (FNGE) chairs the Blueprint Editorial Board. She is a syndicated columnist.
