Ex-NALDA Boss Questions ₦210m Abia ‘Budget Error’

Former Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of the National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA), Paul Ikonne, has urged Abia State residents to stay vigilant and hold their government accountable.

Ikonne made the call during a Monday interview on a radio programme in Abuja, responding to reports that ₦210 million was allegedly included in the 2026 Abia State budget for the purchase of a photocopier. The state government later attributed the entry to a technical error.

In a statement on Saturday, the Abia State Ministry of Budget and Planning had clarified that the ₦210 million was not for a photocopier. According to the ministry, the figure on page 289 of the budget document was displaced due to a formatting error. The actual budget for office equipment, including one Sharp photocopier, was ₦12 million. The ₦210 million was intended for the rehabilitation of staff quarters at the Lagos liaison office.

The ministry explained, “A technical error occurred during the final compilation of the voluminous document. On page 289, a misalignment of text and values inadvertently flipped the descriptions against the figures.”

But, reacting to the claims, Ikonne, a chieftain of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), criticised Governor Alex Otti’s administration for repeated financial inconsistencies and lack of transparency. He said it was alarming that a governor with a banking and finance background could make such “grave errors” in public financial documents.

“This is exactly how Abia’s money is written off,” Ikonne said. “If Abians had not paid attention and raised questions, this whopping sum would have quietly disappeared.”

He recalled a previous incident where about ₦1.2 billion, reportedly for the purchase of Hilux vehicles, was explained as a typographical error. He warned that other discrepancies may have gone unnoticed in the past two and a half years of Otti’s administration.

Ikonne questioned how ₦210 million and ₦12 million could be confused and what type of photocopier would cost ₦12 million. “Even business centres in Aba, where large volumes of documents are handled daily, do not operate photocopiers anywhere near that cost,” he said.

The APC chieftain also raised concerns over how the government planned to reconcile these discrepancies as the budget implementation begins.