Osun's audited accounts put 2025 capital spending at N162.14bn, N29.02bn more than its January report, and above two Assembly sector limits

Osun State's budget implementation report for the last quarter of 2025, dated 28 January 2026 and prepared jointly by the Ministry of Economic Planning, Budget and Development and the Office of the Accountant-General, put capital spending by Governor Ademola Adeleke's government in 2025 at N133,116,897,697.60. That was 79.7 per cent of the final capital budget of N167,030,716,412, and the report's summary table shows N33,913,818,714.40 unspent. The state's audited financial statements for 2025, whose budget statement carries the signature of the Accountant-General, Olalere Rasheed Alabi, dated 18 March 2026, record capital spending of N162,138,889,531.96 for the same year against the same final budget, or 97.1 per cent. The two official counts of one year's capital spending differ by N29,021,991,834.36.

The final budget in both documents is the one the House of Assembly approved on 14 October 2025. In a letter of that date to the Permanent Secretary of the budget ministry, the Clerk of the House, S. A. Amusan, conveyed the House's approval of a re-allocation requested in letter No. EG/OSSG/01/VOL.VIII/367 of 6 October. The total stayed at N427,746,925,170. Capital spending was cut by N24,518,425,858, from N191,549,142,270 to N167,030,716,412, and the cash brought forward from 2024 was raised from N30,001,125,120 to N60,205,607,471.60. The letter's fourth schedule lists capital spending agency by agency under the heading "Not exceeding", in five sector groups: N10,389,351,870 for governance and administration, N118,705,845,441 for the economic sector, N53,622,240 for law and justice, N4,645,000 for the regional sector and N37,877,251,860 for the social sector. Those add to N167,030,716,411, one naira below the printed total; the January report gives the economic figure as N118,705,845,441.81, which closes the gap.

Note 25 of the audited statements breaks the N162.14 billion down by the same sectors, and set against Table 7 of the January report, the whole difference sits in three of them. Administration rises from N4,263,760,113.67 in the January report to N11,316,900,589.48 in the accounts, the economic sector from N108,627,832,987.95 to N124,549,381,400.75 and the social sector from N20,219,381,995.98 to N26,266,684,941.73. The three increases, N7,053,140,475.81, N15,921,548,412.80 and N6,047,302,945.75, add to N29,021,991,834.36. Law and justice is N5,922,600 in both records and the regional sector is nil in both.

In the January report, every sector stayed inside the Assembly's figures: administration had used 41.0 per cent of its allowance and the economic sector 91.5 per cent. In the audited accounts two sectors do not. The economic sector's N124,549,381,400.75 is N5,843,535,958.94 above its N118.71 billion, or 104.9 per cent, and administration's N11,316,900,589.48 is N927,548,719.48 above its N10.39 billion, or 108.9 per cent. The schedule sets its limits for each agency, the largest being N89,588,354,051 for the Ministry of Works and N16,512,005,750 for the Ministry of Rural Development and Community Affairs. On the published figures, a sector total above the sum of its agencies' limits means at least one agency in that sector spent more than its own line, unless a later approval changed the schedule. The accounts do not break capital spending down by agency, so they do not show which.

The Auditor-General's office divides the same total differently. Its 2025 Citizens' Accountability Report, a public summary of the audited statements stamped by the Auditor-General, puts administration's capital spending at N23,709,571,428, which its Table 8 shows as 228 per cent of the N10,389,351,870 final budget, and the economic sector's at N112,156,710,562, or 94 per cent. Its total, N162,138,889,532, matches the accounts. The two audited versions move N12,392,670,838.52 between administration and the economic sector, but they agree on the two sectors' combined spending, N135,866,281,990, which is N6,771,084,678 more than the N129,095,197,312 the Assembly's schedule gave them. In both versions the social sector spent N26,266,684,942 of its N37,877,251,860, or 69.3 per cent, which is why the state's total stayed N4,891,826,880 inside the N167.03 billion.

The accounts also record more money coming in than the January report did. Revenue including the cash brought forward is N423,833,899,399.27 in the audited budget statement, against N381,809,850,744.60 in the report, a difference of N42,024,048,654.67. Grants from development partners rise from N12,669,689,759.72 to N25,916,465,369.81, other capital receipts from N4,923,978,890.90 to N23,975,749,128.33, the state's own revenue from N58,797,073,369.67 to N67,791,767,235.72 and its Federation Account share from N245,213,501,252.71 to N245,944,310,193.80. The January report's totals imply N30,029,774,142.75 left at the end of the year; the accounts record cash of N38,151,344,724.49 on 31 December 2025.

Where the records can be checked against each other, the audited figures hold together. In the budget statement, revenue of N423,833,899,399.27 less spending of N385,682,554,674.77 leaves N38,151,344,724.50, within one kobo of the year-end cash balance, and the Auditor-General, Kolapo Idris, certified that the statements show "a true and fair view". The final budget totals in the accounts, the January report and the Citizens' report all match the Assembly's approval, and the Federation Account receipts in the two audited documents are the same. A quarterly report published 28 days after the year ends is an early count. The N32,298,545,847.52 of extra grants and other capital receipts in the accounts is larger than the N29.02 billion added to capital spending, which is consistent with, but does not prove, projects paid for by grants and federal programmes being booked after the January report. The January report names some of the year's projects: a flyover at Lagere in Ile-Ife, a seven-span bridge at Okefia roundabout in Osogbo and the dualisation of the Ereja Square to Ilesa/Akure expressway road in Ilesa.

The same pattern appears a year earlier. The state's budget report for the last quarter of 2024, dated 24 January 2025, put 2024 capital spending at N103,669,256,496.06, or 87.1 per cent of that year's final budget. The comparative column in the 2025 accounts puts it at N118,665,425,205.07, N14,996,168,709.01 more. The 2024 report's totals implied N28,653,173,732.09 left at the end of 2024; the accounts, and the budget as revised in October 2025, carry N60,205,607,471.60 into 2025. The original 2025 budget, passed into law on 30 December 2024 according to the Citizens' report, had assumed N30,001,125,120.

That 2024 figure is where the Citizens' Accountability Report, which the Auditor-General's office says it presented at an annual audit forum on 31 August 2026, departs from the accounts it summarises. Its Tables 1 and 3 give 2024 capital spending as N39,059,447,710 and present 2025's N162,138,889,532 as growth of 315 per cent. Neither of the state's other records for 2024 contains N39,059,447,710. Against the N118,665,425,205.07 in the audited comparatives, the rise is 36.6 per cent; against the N103,669,256,496.06 in the January 2025 report, it is 56.4 per cent. The same column gives the 2024 opening balance as N17,290,321,601.62, where the 2024 report and the 2025 accounts both give N26,925,323,423.40, and its own 2024 totals, N324,093,836,646 of revenue and N193,917,253,501 of spending, would have left N130,176,583,145 at the end of 2024 rather than the N60,205,607,471.60 the state carried forward. The rest of the column matches the accounts' comparatives, including personnel costs of N61,481,099,474, debt charges of N27,604,938,839 and a Federation Account share of N226,625,622,243.

Two smaller points in the accounts affect anyone reading them line by line. The column of 2025 spending and revenue in the budget statement is headed "2024 Actual", although its figures are 2025's and match the cash flow statement and the Citizens' report. And the accounts spread the final capital budget across government functions differently from the January report while keeping the same total. Housing and community amenities, for example, has a final budget of N23,406,321,400 and spending of N23,218,041,667.17 in the accounts, against N4,906,321,400 and N4,094,255,380.57 in the January report, and Schedule 4 of the accounts carries an air transport line with no initial estimate, a final estimate of N24,120,000,000 and spending of N24,103,335,887.50 that has no counterpart in the January report's function table.

The documents do not show which agencies spent above their lines in the Assembly's schedule, whether the Governor or the House approved further re-allocations after 14 October 2025, why the January report counted N29.02 billion less capital spending than the accounts, which projects the added spending paid for, or where the Citizens' report's 2024 figure of N39,059,447,710 comes from. A gap between a quarterly report and audited accounts is a difference between two counts, not missing money, and nothing in the records suggests wrongdoing by anyone. The state government and the Auditor-General's office were not asked for comment before publication; the figures above are their own, set against each other.

What this rests on

Five Osun State documents, all downloaded on 5 November 2026 from osunstate.gov.ng and read for this report: the Budget Implementation Report for 2025 Quarter 4 (80 pages, dated 28 January 2026; Table 1, printed p.9, and Table 7, printed pp.32 to 35); the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2025 (80 pages, file created 30 July 2026; Accountant-General's responsibility statement p.9, Auditor-General's certificate p.10, cash flow statement p.28, Statement No. 5 budget comparison p.31 signed 18/03/2026, Note 25 capital expenditure by sector p.50, Schedule 4 capital by function p.66); the House of Assembly's approval of the 2025 budget re-allocation (letter Ref. LM.587/8 of 14 October 2025 with four schedules, 14 scanned pages; capital schedule printed pp.10 to 12); the Auditor-General's 2025 Citizens' Accountability Report (27 scanned pages; Tables 1, 3, 5 and 8 on pp.9, 17, 22 and 24); and the Budget Performance Report for 2024 Quarter 4 (69 pages, dated 24 January 2025; Table 1, printed p.10). Arithmetic re-done: 2025 capital N162,138,889,531.96 - N133,116,897,697.60 = N29,021,991,834.36; 162,138,889,531.96 / 167,030,716,412 = 97.07 per cent and 133,116,897,697.60 / 167,030,716,412 = 79.70 per cent. Assembly sector limits 10,389,351,870 + 118,705,845,441 + 53,622,240 + 4,645,000 + 37,877,251,860 = 167,030,716,411 (printed total 167,030,716,412); capital cut 191,549,142,270 - 167,030,716,412 = 24,518,425,858. January report sectors 4,263,760,113.67 + 108,627,832,987.95 + 5,922,600 + 0 + 20,219,381,995.98 = 133,116,897,697.60; audited Note 25 sectors 11,316,900,589.48 + 124,549,381,400.75 + 5,922,600 + 0 + 26,266,684,941.73 = 162,138,889,531.96; sector increases 7,053,140,475.81 + 15,921,548,412.80 + 6,047,302,945.75 = 29,021,991,834.36. Economic 124,549,381,400.75 - 118,705,845,441.81 = 5,843,535,958.94 (104.92 per cent); administration 11,316,900,589.48 - 10,389,351,870 = 927,548,719.48 (108.93 per cent). Citizens' report sectors 23,709,571,428 + 112,156,710,562 + 5,922,600 + 26,266,684,942 = 162,138,889,532; 23,709,571,428 / 10,389,351,870 = 228.2 per cent; 23,709,571,428 - 11,316,900,589.48 = 12,392,670,838.52; administration plus economic = 135,866,281,990.23 in both versions against limits of 129,095,197,311.81, an excess of 6,771,084,678.42; social 26,266,684,941.73 / 37,877,251,860.19 = 69.35 per cent; unspent 167,030,716,412 - 162,138,889,531.96 = 4,891,826,880.04. Revenue: January report 60,205,607,471.60 + 304,010,574,622.38 + 17,593,668,650.62 = 381,809,850,744.60 and spending 218,663,178,904.25 + 133,116,897,697.60 = 351,780,076,601.85, leaving 30,029,774,142.75; accounts 423,833,899,399.27 - 385,682,554,674.77 = 38,151,344,724.50 against year-end cash of 38,151,344,724.49. Revenue difference 42,024,048,654.67: Federation Account 245,944,310,193.80 (68,826,404,957.13 + 86,556,675,637.54 + 90,561,229,599.13) - 245,213,501,252.71 = 730,808,941.09; own revenue 67,791,767,235.72 (23,002,802,536.41 + 754,595,428.94 + 1,148,981,777.69 + 70,658,200 + 42,814,729,292.68) - 58,797,073,369.67 = 8,994,693,866.05; grants 25,916,465,369.81 - 12,669,689,759.72 = 13,246,775,610.09; other capital receipts 23,975,749,128.33 - 4,923,978,890.90 = 19,051,770,237.43; the four add to 42,024,048,654.66, one kobo from the difference in totals; grants plus other receipts 32,298,545,847.52. 2024: January 2025 report capital 103,669,256,496.06, 87.1 per cent of 118,974,545,730; accounts comparative 8,556,244,580.23 + 90,475,342,454.50 + 40,000,000 + 17,330,000 + 19,576,508,170.34 = 118,665,425,205.07; difference 14,996,168,709.01; 2024 report implied balance 265,689,673,255.68 - 237,036,499,523.59 = 28,653,173,732.09; accounts' cash flow 26,925,323,423.40 + 33,280,284,048.20 = 60,205,607,471.60. Growth on 2025 capital: 162,138,889,532 / 39,059,447,710 = +315.1 per cent; 162,138,889,531.96 / 118,665,425,205.07 = +36.6 per cent; 162,138,889,531.96 / 103,669,256,496.06 = +56.4 per cent. Citizens' report 2024 column: 61,481,099,474 + 27,604,938,839 + 65,771,767,478 + 39,059,447,710 = 193,917,253,501; 324,093,836,646 - 193,917,253,501 = 130,176,583,145.

What this does not establish

Which agencies spent above their lines in the Assembly's capital schedule; the accounts give capital spending by sector, function and programme but not by agency. Whether the Governor or the House of Assembly approved any re-allocation after 14 October 2025; none is among the published budget documents, and the virement provisions of the 2025 Appropriation Law were not checked. Why the January 2026 report counted N29.02 billion less capital spending and N42.02 billion less revenue than the audited accounts, and which projects the added spending relates to. Why the audited accounts and the Auditor-General's Citizens' report split the same N162.14 billion differently between the administration and economic sectors. Where the Citizens' report's 2024 figures of N39,059,447,710 for capital spending and N17,290,321,601.62 for the opening balance come from; the 2024 audited statements and the Auditor-General's 2024 report were not downloaded for this piece, so the 2024 comparison rests on the comparatives in the 2025 accounts and on the January 2025 report. Why the function breakdown of the final capital budget, including the N24.12 billion air transport line, differs between the January report and the accounts. Nothing in the documents suggests wrongdoing by anyone, and none is alleged. The Osun State Government and the Office of the Auditor-General were not asked for comment.