The massive spending on overseas trips came at a time when many of the states are battling rising inflation, collapsing public services, insecurity, and deepening poverty among citizens.
According to the analysis, Zamfara State recorded the highest expenditure on international travel, spending ₦2.2 billion between January and June 2026.
The amount represents approximately 20.8 per cent of the total ₦10.598 billion spent by the 11 states reviewed.
Yobe State came second with ₦1.9 billion, while Kogi ranked third with ₦1.4 billion spent on overseas trips.
Kwara followed with ₦1.3 billion, and Ekiti completed the list of states that crossed the one-billion-naira mark after spending ₦1 billion.
Other states in the report include: Ebonyi ₦702.2 million, Borno ₦650.4 million, Nasarawa ₦577 million, Adamawa ₦421.2 million, Cross River ₦278 million, and Ondo with the lowest at ₦169.3 million.
The data shows a huge disparity. The three highest spenders — Zamfara, Yobe and Kogi — alone gulped ₦5.5 billion, representing nearly 52 per cent of the total.
When Kwara and Ekiti are added, the top five states accounted for ₦7.8 billion, or almost 74 per cent of all foreign travel spending. The remaining six states spent just ₦2.8 billion combined.
The average spending per state stood at ₦963.5 million, while the median was ₦702.2 million recorded by Ebonyi.
The figures have sparked outrage, particularly in Zamfara where insecurity and poverty have become a daily reality for millions.
Despite being one of the worst-hit states by banditry, kidnapping and rural attacks, Zamfara committed more money to foreign trips in six months than many states budget for health or education in a full year.
Villages in Maru, Anka, Bukkuyum and Zurmi LGAs continue to witness mass displacement. Farmers have abandoned their lands. Schools and clinics have been shut down. Yet the state government found ₦2.2 billion to fund travels abroad.
Civil servants in the state are still owed backlog of salaries and pensions. Many cannot afford two square meals. Markets are empty because household purchasing power has collapsed.
“What kind of leadership is this?” a Zamfara resident who asked not to be named told this reporter. “They fly abroad every month in the name of ‘investment drive’ while we are burying people every week and children are out of school. That ₦2.2 billion could have equipped our hospitals, paid teachers, or bought security vehicles.”
Public finance experts argue that if these trips were truly for investment promotion or donor engagement, citizens should be seeing results on the ground. Instead, what they see are new government convoys and abandoned projects.
State governments often defend foreign travels as necessary for attracting investors, attending bilateral meetings, training, and securing development partnerships.
But with Nigeria’s economy under pressure and FAAC allocations to states rising significantly since the removal of fuel subsidy in 2023, many Nigerians are asking: what exactly are governors bringing back?
“Official travel should produce measurable outcomes — investments, technology transfer, improved service delivery,” a public finance analyst said. “Not endless trips that become a line item in the budget with nothing to show.”
The concern is worse in states that rely heavily on federal allocations and borrowing to fund budgets, yet record low releases for capital projects.
Instead, the money went to hotels, business class tickets, estacodes, and “meetings” abroad.
In Zamfara, the contradiction is most painful. The state is receiving significantly higher allocations post-subsidy, yet insecurity has worsened, rural communities are empty, and poverty is at an all-time high.
While governors jet out, local government workers trek to work. While commissioners attend conferences in Dubai and London, primary schools in Gusau have no chairs.
The SaharaReporters report has reignited calls for transparency and a ban on non-essential foreign trips until basic services are fixed.
“Governors are deceiving us,” another Zamfara citizen said. “They tell us there is no money, but they have money to travel. Now they want us to ‘punish them’ at the polls. We will.”
With 2027 elections approaching, voters in Zamfara, Kogi, Yobe and other states say they will be watching closely how their leaders spend public money.
For now, the message from the budget books is clear: in the race of priorities, foreign travel is winning, while the people are losing.
