Federal ministries, departments and agencies spent over N50.41bn on foreign trips, air tickets, estacode, offshore allowances and overseas training between June 2023 and June 19, 2026, an analysis of government payment records has revealed.
The expenditure was traced to 1,967 transactions involving 129 federal institutions, based on data from GovSpend, a public expenditure tracking platform developed by civic-tech organisation BudgIT.
The analysis covered six GovSpend transaction datasets containing 9,305 entries. After 1,001 duplicate records were removed, 8,304 unique payments remained.
A further 6,337 transactions were excluded because their descriptions did not provide sufficient evidence of a connection with foreign travel.
The analysis was also limited to payments of N5m and above.
 Consequently, the N50.41bn figure represents a minimum estimate, with smaller travel-related payments excluded.
Air Tickets Account for 47% of Spending.Foreign air tickets accounted for the largest share of the expenditure, with N23.70billion spent across 958 transactions.
Estacode and offshore allowances followed at N17.05billion, while other foreign-travel expenses, including accommodation, visas, participation fees, foreign exchange, protocol and logistics, accounted for N5.35billion.
Overseas training accounted for another N4.32billion.
The spending increased from N16.54billion between June 2023 and May 2024 to N19.13billion between June 2024 and May 2025, representing a 15.7 per cent rise.
It then fell to N14.66billion between June 2025 and May 2026.
Despite the decline in total spending in the third period, the average value of each transaction increased from N23.17million in the first year to N31.39million in the third.
TAC Records Highest Spending
The Technical Aid Corps recorded the highest expenditure among the institutions analysed, with N11.70billion in 93 transactions.
Much of the spending was linked to offshore allowances for Nigerian volunteers and other foreign-service activities.
The Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation followed with N5.16billion from two transactions.
Its largest payment was N5.15billion released in December 2024 for outstanding estacode allowances and flight tickets for the Vice-President and First Lady’s official foreign trips, according to the payment description.
State House Headquarters recorded N4.83billion across 28 transactions, while the Federal Ministry of Sports Development accounted for N4.10billion in 25 payments.
The sports ministry’s expenditure was largely connected to Nigeria’s participation in the 2024 African Games in Accra, Ghana, covering flights, participation fees, allowances, estacode and other expenses.
The National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure recorded N2.05billion through 221 transactions, the highest number of payments by any institution in the dataset, while the Federal Ministry of Finance followed with N1.58billion across 117 transactions.
The Federal Ministry of Education recorded N1.05billion in 20 payments, while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs accounted for N1.05billion across 68 transactions.
Other institutions with significant expenditure included the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit, N1.01billion; the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, N963.78million; the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, N773.68million; and the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, N760.56million.
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