The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has proposed a total expenditure of about ₦3.2 billion on cleaning, fumigation, meals, refreshments and energy-related services in the 2026 fiscal year, findings have shown.
Naijaonpoint reports that the spending plan is contained in the 2026 Appropriation Bill presented by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to a joint session of the National Assembly on December 19 and captured under the Presidency section of the budget.
A budget document obtained from the Budget Office of the Federation revealed that the anti-graft agency earmarked ₦278.6m for cleaning and fumigation services, while ₦722 million was allocated for meals and refreshments.
Further analysis of the document showed that the EFCC also proposed to spend ₦1.02bn on motor vehicle fuel costs and another ₦1.2bn on the fuelling of generators.
This brings the commission’s total projected spending on cleaning, food, and energy-related services alone to over ₦3.2bn in the 2026 fiscal year.
Beyond the core overheads, the budget indicates that the EFCC plans to spend ₦170.5m on drugs and medical supplies, ₦376.5m on vehicle and transport equipment maintenance and ₦46m on the maintenance of office furniture.
Also captured is a proposed ₦1.5bn for the maintenance of office buildings and residential quarters, as well as ₦159.8m for the maintenance of office and IT equipment.
The 2026 appropriation bill has a total expenditure estimate of ₦58.18tn, including ₦15.52tn earmarked for debt servicing.
With projected revenue put at ₦34.33tn, the budget leaves a deficit of ₦23.85tn, which the Federal Government plans to finance through a mix of domestic and foreign borrowing.
The EFCC is one of several government agencies whose recurrent expenditure provisions have attracted attention during the ongoing scrutiny of the budget by the National Assembly.
Analysts Raise Red Flags
Reacting to the figures, public affairs analysts expressed concerns over what they described as repetitive and excessive recurrent spending across ministries, departments and agencies.
They warned that such expenditure patterns encourage waste and reduce the ability of the national budget to deliver tangible benefits to ordinary Nigerians.
Speaking with Daily Trust, the Executive Director of the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership, Comrade Debo Adeniran, described the development as a reflection of a deep-seated culture of waste in public sector budgeting.
“We have always been complaining that the system we are operating is bad because of its penchant for profligacy. That is why the same items on the budget keep repeating themselves. They have to renovate houses and offices every year and buy a new set of furniture. MDAs repeat the same budget line year in, year out,” Adeniran said.
He warned that such recurrent spending could become a conduit for the diversion of public funds.
“Government officials find every means to create avenues within the budget to take care of their own comfort and convenience,” he added.
Also speaking, a political scientist, Dr Kabiru Sa’id Sufi, said overhead costs were consuming an increasingly large portion of government expenditure.
“The assessment people are making about the budget is that overhead is increasingly taking a large chunk of the money, which shouldn’t be. We need to cut down on unnecessary expenditure. The budget sometimes appears to be a recycled document with few adjustments,” he said.
Sufi further noted that the repeated appearance of the same expenditure items in annual budgets suggests weak implementation or outright lack of necessity.
“If you look at MDAs, you will keep seeing the same thing being repeated almost annually in their budgets, with only differences in figures. It means that most of those things budgeted are not really needed,” he said.
As lawmakers continue the review of the 2026 budget, the analysts say the EFCC’s proposed spending will likely fuel broader debates on fiscal discipline and the need to rein in recurrent costs across government.