Moro says he allocated N6bn to the Oju-Otukpo road. The Acts give it N3bn for 2025 and N3.9bn for 2026, with one section listed in two ministries

On Monday, 2 November 2026, the Senate Minority Leader, Abba Moro, inaugurated the campaign council for his third run at the Benue South seat, at a ceremony in Otukpo. According to Daily Trust, he told supporters he had allocated N6 billion to the Oju-Otukpo road, a project he called a personal commitment, and said he would keep working with the contractor and the Federal Ministry of Finance until it is finished. Vero Record set that figure against the 2025 and 2026 Appropriation Acts. The 2026 Act gives the road's two sections, Otukpo-Obi and Obi-Oju, N3.9 billion in five lines, spread across the budgets of the science and agriculture ministries. N2.1 billion of that is exactly 70 per cent of the N3.0 billion the 2025 Act gave the same two sections.

Daily Trust's account, published on 3 November, gives Mr Moro's words on the road as a paraphrase: "He disclosed that he had allocated N6 billion for the road project." It does not say which budget year or years he meant, or whether the figure is an appropriation, a contract sum or money released. Vero Record did not hear a recording of the speech. Mr Moro, a senator of the Peoples Democratic Party, is seeking re-election in the 16 January 2027 elections. In November 2024 he flagged off reconstruction of what Vanguard described as the "long abandoned 51km Otukpo-Obi-Oju Federal road", and the same report said the road was handed to the Nigerian Building and Road Research Institute as the awarding agency. That institute falls under the Federal Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, which may explain why most of the money sits in that ministry's budget.

The 2025 Appropriation Act, as passed, lists the road on page 958, in the budget of the science ministry's headquarters (code 0228001001). Line ERGP20261591, "Construction of Otukpo-Obi road in Benue South Senatorial District", is marked ongoing and carries N1,500,000,000. Line ERGP20261592, "Construction of Obi-Oju road in Benue South Senatorial District", is marked new and carries N1,500,000,000. Together that is N3,000,000,000 for 2025.

The 2026 Act lists the same two sections, under the same ministry, on page 1205. Line ERGP12244881, Otukpo-Obi, carries N1,050,000,000, and line ERGP12244883, Obi-Oju, carries N1,050,000,000, both marked ongoing. Each is exactly 70 per cent of its 2025 figure: N1,500,000,000 x 0.70 = N1,050,000,000. That matches the instruction the budget ministry gave in a December 2025 circular, as reported by Vanguard, that ministries "upload 70 percent of their 2025 FGN budget to continue in FY2026", with only 30 per cent of the 2025 capital budget to be released within 2025. The Act itself does not label these lines as carried over, and their project codes differ from the 2025 codes, so the link rests on the exact match of the figures.

Further down the same ministry's schedule, on page 1236, the 2026 Act lists the road a second time. Line ERGP20275619, "Construction of Otukpo-Obi road, Benue South Senatorial District", carries N600,000,000, and line ERGP20275620, "Construction of Obi-Oju road, Benue South Senatorial District", carries N500,000,000. Both are marked ongoing. These two lines, N1,100,000,000 together, have no counterpart at 70 per cent in the 2025 Act.

A fifth line sits in a different ministry. On page 766, in the budget of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security headquarters (code 0215001001), line ERGP20272544, "Construction of Otukpo-Obi road in Benue South Senatorial District", carries N700,000,000. The Otukpo-Obi section therefore appears three times in the 2026 Act, in two ministries, for N2,350,000,000 in all (N1,050,000,000 + N600,000,000 + N700,000,000). The Obi-Oju section appears twice, for N1,550,000,000 (N1,050,000,000 + N500,000,000). The two sections add to N3,900,000,000. The Federal Ministry of Works' schedule has one line on the route: N70,000,000 on page 1515 for "Emergency repairs of Otukpo - Obarike - Ito road in Obi LGA, Benue State", covering chainage 16+000 to 16+500, a 500-metre stretch. The Act does not say whether that stretch is part of the same project, and it is left out of the totals here.

How close N6 billion comes depends on what is counted. The 2026 Act alone gives N3.9 billion, which is N2.1 billion short of N6 billion, or 65 per cent of it. Adding the 2025 and 2026 Acts gives N6.9 billion, N0.9 billion more than he said, but if the 70 per cent rule was applied that sum counts the carried-over N2.1 billion twice. Counting each sum once, N3.0 billion from 2025 and the N1.8 billion of 2026 lines with no 2025 match (N600,000,000 + N500,000,000 + N700,000,000), gives N4.8 billion. The closest figure to N6 billion is N6.2 billion, the science ministry lines in both Acts (N3,000,000,000 + N2,100,000,000 + N1,100,000,000), which again includes the carried-over amount twice. No combination of the seven lines gives N6 billion exactly.

On the substance, the record supports Mr Moro. The road he said he had funded is in both Acts, under his senatorial district's name, for sums in the billions of naira. The 2025 Act records the Obi-Oju section as new in the budget year after the flag-off he led, and the 2026 Act adds three lines beyond the pair that match the 2025 figures. His N6 billion lies within the range the two Acts produce, from N3.9 billion for 2026 alone to N6.9 billion for both years added together. What the Acts do not support is N6 billion as a single appropriation, or as a total that avoids counting the same money twice.

The Acts also do not show what has been spent. An Appropriation Act authorises spending; it does not record releases or payments. Mr Moro's own remark, as reported, that he would keep engaging the Federal Ministry of Finance to ensure completion, points to the same gap between money appropriated and money paid. Vero Record did not examine release or payment records for the seven lines, and the Daily Trust account gives no contract sum or completion figure.

Nor do the Acts name who proposed the lines. Projects listed by senatorial district are commonly attributed to the district's senator, and Mr Moro claimed this one, but the Appropriation Act records only the ministry, the project code, the description, the status and the amount. The Acts give no reason for placing a road under the headquarters of the science and agriculture ministries rather than the Works ministry. Nothing in either Act suggests wrongdoing by anyone, and none is alleged here.

Set side by side, the two Acts show the Oju-Otukpo road appropriated N3.0 billion in 2025 and N3.9 billion in 2026, in seven lines across two ministries, with N2.1 billion of the 2026 money matching the 2025 lines at exactly 70 per cent. Mr Moro's N6 billion is of the same order as the money voted for the road over the two years, which comes to between N4.8 billion and N6.9 billion depending on whether the matching lines are counted twice. It is not a figure either Act gives, and the documents do not show how much of the money has reached the contractor.

What this rests on

Two federal Appropriation Acts, read for this report: the 2025 Appropriation Act as passed (Budget Office of the Federation copy), page 958, Federal Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation headquarters, lines ERGP20261591 and ERGP20261592; and the 2026 Appropriation Act (copy published by the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre), pages 1205 and 1236 (science ministry headquarters, lines ERGP12244881, ERGP12244883, ERGP20275619 and ERGP20275620), page 766 (Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security headquarters, line ERGP20272544) and page 1515 (Federal Ministry of Works, line ERGP12231940). Page extracts are saved with this report. The claim is Daily Trust's paraphrase of Mr Moro's speech in Otukpo on Monday, 2 November 2026, published on Tuesday, 3 November. Arithmetic re-done: 2025, N1,500,000,000 + N1,500,000,000 = N3,000,000,000. 2026, N1,050,000,000 + N1,050,000,000 + N600,000,000 + N500,000,000 + N700,000,000 = N3,900,000,000; by section, Otukpo-Obi N1,050,000,000 + N600,000,000 + N700,000,000 = N2,350,000,000 and Obi-Oju N1,050,000,000 + N500,000,000 = N1,550,000,000, which add to N3,900,000,000. 70 per cent check: N1,500,000,000 x 0.70 = N1,050,000,000 for each section, N2,100,000,000 together. Against N6,000,000,000: 2026 alone, N6,000,000,000 - N3,900,000,000 = N2,100,000,000 short, and N3,900,000,000 / N6,000,000,000 = 65 per cent; 2025 plus 2026, N3,000,000,000 + N3,900,000,000 = N6,900,000,000, N900,000,000 above; counted once, N3,000,000,000 + (N600,000,000 + N500,000,000 + N700,000,000 = N1,800,000,000) = N4,800,000,000; science ministry lines in both Acts, N3,000,000,000 + N2,100,000,000 + N1,100,000,000 = N6,200,000,000. Works line: chainage 16+000 to 16+500 = 500 metres, N70,000,000, excluded from all totals. Dates: 2 November 2026 was a Monday.

What this does not establish

Which budget year or years, and which measure, Mr Moro meant by N6 billion; the published account is a paraphrase and gives no period. Whether the N1,050,000,000 lines in the 2026 Act are formally the 2025 lines carried over: the figures match the 70 per cent rule exactly, but the Act does not say so and the project codes differ; the circular is cited as reported by Vanguard, not from the circular itself. Whether the Budget Office's January 2026 repeal and re-enactment of the 2025 Act changed these two lines; the figures used are from the 2025 Act as passed. Whether any of the seven lines has been released or paid, and how much; no release or payment record was examined. The contract sum, the contractor's progress and the road's condition today. Whether the N70,000,000 Works ministry repair line on the Otukpo-Obarike-Ito road is part of the same route. Whether the 2024 Appropriation Act also funded the road; the copy on file is a scanned image and was not searched. Who proposed the lines; the Acts do not name sponsors. Mr Moro was not asked for comment before publication. Nothing in the documents suggests wrongdoing by anyone, and none is alleged.